UK biotech company Green Biologics merges with US biofuel specialists Butylfuel

In a move designed to scale up the commercialization of biobutanol production from waste and agricultural by-products, Oxford-based Green Biologics Limited (GBL) have announced they will merge with US renewable chemical and biofuels specialists Butylfuel™.

The new business will continue to operate under the Green Biologics name and will focus on the production of C₄ chemicals and advanced fuels from renewable feedstocks, primarily from waste and by-product agricultural sources.

Following the announcement Sean Sutcliffe, Chief Executive of the new GBL group, said: "This merger creates a truly global leader in biobutanol and represents a transformational deal for both companies."

"We are combining GBL's acknowledged technology leadership and commercialization expertise in China, India and Brazil with the scale up, operational process experience, and North American business building capabilities of butylfuel™," he added.

Butanol and its derivatives are key intermediates in the production of paints, coatings, adhesives and inks; an $85 billion global market. Butyl acrylates are also used in the $700 billion global plastics and polymers market.

In the longer term, the company believes butanol will prove to be successful "drop in" biofuel which can directly replace petrol as a fuel. The company added that it is a 'superior blend stock' that can be blended with diesel as well as other biofuels, such as biodiesel, ethanol and isobutanol. The blend stock opportunity for butanol exceeds $80 billion per year.

Butanol also has the potential to be upgraded to aviation jet fuel, a developing market which is worth an estimated $50 billion and driven by increasing global interest on reduction of carbon emissions from air travel. Biofuels remains a strategic driver for GBL, with the company's immediate market focus on butanol and C₄ chemicals.

The NNFCC's advanced biofuels report highlights the role that biobutanol could play in helping the UK meets its renewable transport targets by 2020. To read the report click here.