BIOAMBER
Offtake agreement with Vinmar for 210,000 t/y of succinic acid / Feedstock will be sourced from three different plants / Output of Canadian facility currently under construction already sold out
Building on their existing collaboration, renewable chemistry company BioAmber (Plymouth, Minnesota / USA; www.bio-amber.com) in early July signed another take-or-pay contract with marketing and distribution company Vinmar International (Houston, Texas / USA; www.vinmar.com), this time for 210,000 t/y of bio-based succinic acid. Commenting on the agreement, BioAmber CEO Jean-Francois Huc, said, “This multi-plant deal is a quantum leap forward for our succinic acid business and sets a clear path for rapid growth.”
As part of the 15-year master off-take agreement, Vinmar is to purchase 10,000 t/y of succinic acid from BioAmber Sarnia’s 30,000 t/y plant under construction in Sarnia / Canada, as well as 150,000 t/y of feedstock from a new 200,000 t/y plant that BioAmber plans to build. Vinmar intends to invest at least 10% of equity in the facility, which is expected to start up in late 2020. Further details, including the proposed location, remain unclear.
The remaining 50,000 t/y in succinic acid will be sourced from the 100,000 t/y BDO plant BioAmber and Vinmar are currently building, and which is due to start up in late 2017 (for previous coverage, see Plasteurope.com of 04.02.2014). The plant is now set to receive a 70,000 t/y bio-succinic acid line as well. Vinmar has been granted the option of securing additional feedstock from this facility if BioAmber has not committed the remaining 20,000 t/y of output by the time the plant’s financing is secured.
The latest agreement means that BioAmber has now found buyers for 50% of the output of its Sarnia plant during the first three years of its operation, with 33% of total output already sold for the following 12 years. Another key customer is PTTMCC Biochem (Bangkok / Thailand) – a joint venture between PTT (Bangkok; www.pttplc.com) and Mitsubishi Chemical (MCC, Tokyo / Japan; www.m-kagaku.co.jp) – with which the US company recently signed a separate offtake agreement (see Plasteurope.com of 08.05.2014). Aside from these two large deals, BioAmber says it has signed 19 additional supply and distribution agreements as well as seven memoranda of understanding, the total volume of which exceeds the available capacity for sale at Sarnia.
As part of the 15-year master off-take agreement, Vinmar is to purchase 10,000 t/y of succinic acid from BioAmber Sarnia’s 30,000 t/y plant under construction in Sarnia / Canada, as well as 150,000 t/y of feedstock from a new 200,000 t/y plant that BioAmber plans to build. Vinmar intends to invest at least 10% of equity in the facility, which is expected to start up in late 2020. Further details, including the proposed location, remain unclear.
The remaining 50,000 t/y in succinic acid will be sourced from the 100,000 t/y BDO plant BioAmber and Vinmar are currently building, and which is due to start up in late 2017 (for previous coverage, see Plasteurope.com of 04.02.2014). The plant is now set to receive a 70,000 t/y bio-succinic acid line as well. Vinmar has been granted the option of securing additional feedstock from this facility if BioAmber has not committed the remaining 20,000 t/y of output by the time the plant’s financing is secured.
The latest agreement means that BioAmber has now found buyers for 50% of the output of its Sarnia plant during the first three years of its operation, with 33% of total output already sold for the following 12 years. Another key customer is PTTMCC Biochem (Bangkok / Thailand) – a joint venture between PTT (Bangkok; www.pttplc.com) and Mitsubishi Chemical (MCC, Tokyo / Japan; www.m-kagaku.co.jp) – with which the US company recently signed a separate offtake agreement (see Plasteurope.com of 08.05.2014). Aside from these two large deals, BioAmber says it has signed 19 additional supply and distribution agreements as well as seven memoranda of understanding, the total volume of which exceeds the available capacity for sale at Sarnia.
09.07.2014 Plasteurope.com [228686-0]
Published on 09.07.2014