Platform Chemicals

Ethanol
This Factsheet gives an overview of the current and potential market

NNFCC

for biorenewable ethanol (C2H5OH), in chemical applications.

Introduction
Ethanol is a high volume commodity chemical. In 2008,
world ethanol production reached 61 million tonnes per
year, with the vast majority of ethanol derived from the
fermentation of biomass feedstocks (1, 2).

Current applications
Ethanol is used in three sectors: fuels & fuel additives,
chemicals, and food & beverages. The largest market
sector is fuel & fuel additives, where ethanol is used as
a petrol substitute in internal combustion engines, or
converted to ethyl tertiary butyl ether, a fuel additive.
The vast majority of ethanol used in this sector is biobased, and in receipt of financial incentives.
In the chemicals industry, ethanol is used as a solvent
and as a building block for chemical synthesis. The
industry consumed about 6 million tonnes of ethanol
in 2003, and is the only market in which fossil-derived
ethanol has a significant share. In the same year about
3 million tonnes of ethanol were consumed in the food
and beverages sector primarily as an ingredient in
alcoholic drinks (2).

Renewable Chemicals
Factsheet

Markets
Potential Market Growth
The demand for ethanol fuel is largely
directed by policy and legislation.
Ethanol can also be used to synthesise a
number of basic chemicals and polymer
precursors, including ethylene, ethyl
acetate, and acetic acid. The use of biobased ethanol in industrial applications
does not receive subsidies, and demand
from these sectors will depend on
production economics and changes in
petrochemical prices.

Ethylene
Ethylene may be synthesised by the
dehydration of ethanol. This process
has been used for the commercial
production of ethylene in the past, and
is experiencing renewed interest as
market demand for bio-based products
increases.

Global ethylene consumption was 109 million tonnes in

2006, equivalent to 188 million tonnes of ethanol (3). The
main use of ethylene is in the production of polyethylene
(PE); LLDPE, LDPE and HDPE. These products are
generally used in the packaging sector as films and for
injection and blow moulding applications. Braskem and
Dow Chemicals are developing sugar cane to PE projects
in Brazil, with planned capacity totalling 550,000 tonnes
per year (4, 5). Braskem are scheduled to begin production
in 2011. They expect the demand for bio-based PE to be
600,000 tonnes per year, and to command a premium of
15-30% on conventional PE. Solvay have also announced
their intention to produce bio-based ethylene for the
manufacture of PVC, a durable plastic widely used in the
construction and automotive industries (6).
Ethylene may be oxidised to ethylene oxide, an important
industrial chemical mainly used for the production of
ethylene glycol and other chemicals (1). Monoethylene glycol
(MEG) is predominantly consumed in the production of
polyester polymers (polyethylene terephthalate, or PET)
which find application in fibres, films, and moulding.

Global Production: 61 million tonnes per year

Contact Dr Adrian Higson

Market Price (2010): $1,000 - 1,200 per tonne

(Industrial ethanol)

Head of Biorefining

Renewable Capacity: >55 million tonnes per year

Tel: +44 (0) 1904 435182

Renewable Technology Status: Mature

enquiries@nnfcc.co.uk

Major Current Use: Fuel and fuel additive

www.nnfcc.co.uk

Image courtesy of Dupont

Ethyl acetate

Current Status

Ethyl acetate is a biodegradable solvent, which finds

application in industrial uses such as chromatography
and decaffeination, and in consumer products such as
paints and perfumes. Ethyl acetate is produced by the
dehydrogenation of ethanol or the reaction of ethanol
and acetic acid. Bio-based ethyl acetate is commercially
produced in India and China. A number of organisations
have developed proprietary technology for the manufacture
of ethyl acetate, including Davy Process Technology,
Godavari Biorefineries and Sekab.

The majority of ethanol is produced in the US and Brazil. Worldwide, the largest bioethanol producer is
Poet Energy supplying 4.6 million tonnes per year from 26 facilities across the US, followed by Archer
Daniel Midland, with capacity for 2.7 million tonnes per year. In the UK, British Sugar began ethanol
production in 2007, producing up to 55,000 tonnes per year from sugar beet. A second UK plant began
production on Teeside in March 2010. The Ensus plant has capacity to produce over 300,000 tonnes per
year of ethanol from animal feed wheat.

Acetic acid
Acetic acid may be produced by the oxidation of ethanol.
The process has been demonstrated at pilot scale and is
available to licence from Wacker Chemie. The major use of
acetic acid is as a chemical intermediate, in the production
of vinyl acetate monomer, acetic anhydride, and ethyl
acetate.

Technology
Production route from biomass
The production of ethanol from the fermentation of glucose
is a mature process, practised at large scale around the
world. Fermentation is typically carried out by yeast to
produce a dilute aqueous ethanol solution (approximately
10-13%), which is concentrated by distillation and the use
of molecular sieves.

There are several plants which demonstrate the conversion of lignocellulosic feedstocks to ethanol (often
termed cellulosic ethanol) in the EU and US, but as yet no fully commercial plants. Syngas fermentation
to ethanol is proven at pilot scale, and is expected to be demonstrated by 2012 (8). INEOS Bio are
assessing the feasibility for a plant to convert biodegradable household and commercial wastes to
ethanol in the north east of England. Commercial operation is expected to start from 2012.

Environmental Performance
The substitution of petroleum derived ethanol with bioethanol leads to non-renewable energy savings
of between 35 GJ/t (60%) and 80 GJ/t (130%). The greenhouse gas (GHG) emission savings range
from 2 tCO2e/t (20%) to 4 tCO2e/t (280%) (2). The land required to manufacture bioethanol by current
processes ranges from 0.12 to 0.29 ha/t depending on feedstock.
The substitution of petroleum derived PE with bio-based PE leads to non-renewable energy savings
of between 25 GJ/t (38%) and
102 GJ/t (156%) depending on
feedstock. The GHG emissions
References and Further Reading
savings over the lifetime of the
1. www.ethanolrfa.org/pages/statistics#E
material range from 2 to 6 tCO2e/t,
depending on the feedstock and
2. Medium and Long-term Opportunities and Risks of
end-of-life fate (2).
the Biotechnological Production of Bulk Chemicals

Global Manufacturers

Due to the potentially limited availability of starch and

sugar feedstocks, significant funding and research effort
is focusing on using lignocellulosic feedstocks to produce
ethanol.

POET: www.poetenergy.com

An alternative production route to ethanol is via biomass

gasification. Biomass gasification produces syngas,
a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Syngas
is converted to ethanol by fermentation, or chemical
catalysis. The nature of the gasification process enables a
wider range of biomass resources to be used.

UK Manufacturers

ADM: www.adm.com
ETH Bio energy: www.eth.com

British Sugar: www.britishsugar.co.uk

Ensus: www.ensusgroup.com

from Renewable Resources The Potential of White

Biotechnology (The BREW Project, 2006)

3. NNFCC 08-008 Biochemical Opportunities in the United

Kingdom (Nexant ChemSystems, 2008)

4. www.dow.com/commitments/studies/sugar.htm
5. www.braskem.com.br/site/portal_braskem/en/sala_de_
imprensa/sala_de_imprensa_detalhes_8129.aspx

6. www.solvinpvc.com/solvinservices/news/0,,62076-2-0,00.htm
7. NNFCC 08-007 Lignocellulosic Ethanol Plant in the UK Feasibility Study, July 2008 Black & Veatch

8. www.ineosbio.com/76-Press_releases-6.htm
July 2010