Clariant to develop catalysts for Gevo's ethanol-to-olefins technology

Gevo Inc, the US-based renewable technology, chemical products, and biofuels company, has entered into an agreement with Clariant Corp, one of the world’s leading specialty chemical companies, to develop catalysts to enable Gevo’s ETO technology. Gevo’s ethanol-to-olefins (ETO) technology, which uses ethanol as a feedstock, produces tailored mixes of propylene, isobutylene and hydrogen, which are valuable as standalone molecules, or as feedstocks to produce other products such as diesel fuel and commodity plastics, that would be drop-in replacements for their fossil-based equivalents.
 
Underpinning the ETO technology was Gevo’s invention of proprietary mixed metal oxide catalysts that produce polymer grade propylene or high purity isobutylene, along with hydrogen in high yields in a single processing step from conventional fuel grade specification ethanol. Clariant is committed to the development and scale-up of the catalyst, which is expected to continue the advancement of the ETO technology, while Gevo focuses the majority of its internal resources on the ongoing optimization of its core isobutanol technology.