MOSCOW (MRC) -- Anellotech, a sustainable technology company focused on producing cost-competitive BTX (benzene, toluene and xylene) from non-food biomass, made public Toyota Tsusho Corporation as a multinational strategic equity investor and corporate partner in the renewable aromatic chemicals supply chain, said the company on its site.
Toyota Tsusho is a member of the Toyota Group and is one of the major value chain partners (along with Suntory) in the Anellotech alliance, further validating the global market opportunity for Anellotech’s Bio-TCat technology.
Toyota Tsusho’s investment has been used to fund development of Anellotech's Bio-TCat technology, including the installation and commissioning of Anellotech’s new, fully-integrated development and testing facility (“TCat-8™”). This 25 meter-tall unit’s purpose is to confirm the viability and suitability of the Bio-TCat process for scale-up, and generate the data needed to design commercial plants using Bio-TCat technology.
The TCat-8 unit was jointly designed by Anellotech and its R&D partner IFPEN, and will use a novel catalyst under joint development by Anellotech and Johnson Matthey. After verification of the continuous operation of TCat-8, Anellotech Alliance partner Suntory plans to move ahead with studies to consider the development of the first commercial-scale Bio-TCat plant.
The TCat-8 unit has been installed at host South Hampton Resources’ Silsbee, Texas location. Remaining construction activities required to bring the unit online are scheduled to be completed shortly, followed by commissioning and startup of this first-of-its-kind development and testing facility later this year. Toyota Tsusho management recently visited the TCat-8 unit at Silsbee, and, noting the advanced stage of development, elected to make public their involvement in the program.
Toyota Tsusho’s interest in Anellotech’s technology is aligned with their goal of promoting sustainable bio-materials, including bio-based polyester (polyethylene terephthalate, or PET).
As MRC informed earlier, PTT Global Chemical, Toyota Tsusho Corporation and Sanyo Chemical Industries, Ltd. to jointly pursue the study on potential development of Propylene Oxide and Polyether Polyols Complex in Thailand.
Toyota Tsusho Corporation is the Toyota Group's general trading company that develops diversified businesses through more than 990 consolidated companies in Japan and overseas and with customers around the world, via a global network covering Japan and more than 90 countries worldwide. The Company organized its business under six operating divisions: Metals, Global Parts & Logistics, Automotive, Machinery, Energy & Project, Chemicals & Electronics, Food & Consumer Services.
Anellotech is developing the Bio-TCat process to produce cost-competitive renewable aromatic chemicals (benzene, toluene and xylenes, BTX) from non-food biomass for use in making plastics such as polyester, nylon, polycarbonate, polystyrene, or for renewable transportation fuels. Anellotech's key technical differentiator driving Bio-TCat’s cost-competitive advantage is its use of a one-reactor catalytic process.
MRC