Global Bioenergies is a French company producing light liquid
hydrocarbons
In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic, and their odors are usually weak or e ...
derived from agricultural products using biological methods.
History
The company was founded in 2008 by Marc Delcourt and Philippe Marlière.
The pilot plant came on stream in May 2015. The company announced production of one tonne of bio-
isobutene
Isobutylene (or 2-methylpropene) is a hydrocarbon with the chemical formula . It is a four-carbon branched alkene (olefin), one of the four isomers of butylene. It is a colorless flammable gas, and is of considerable industrial value.
Producti ...
Essonne
Essonne () is a department of France in the southern Île-de-France region. It is named after the river Essonne. In 2019, it had a population of 1,301,659 across 194 communes.ARD (Agro-industrie Recherche et Développements) research and development structure BioDemo pilot in Pomacle-Bazancourt. A pilot for research purposes was constructed at the Fraunhofer Center for Chemical and Biotechnological Processes (Fraunhofer CBP) in
Leuna
Leuna is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, eastern Germany, south of Merseburg and Halle, on the river Saale.
The town is known for the ''Leunawerke'', at 13 km2 one of the biggest chemical industrial complexes in Germany, where a very wide range of ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
and is operational since 2016. Global Bioenergies also founded IBN-One, a joint-venture with Cristal Union, to install a plant in France, which should be operational in 2018..
Products
The first process developed is the production of mehtylpropene (also called isobutene or isobutylene) from
glucose
Glucose is a simple sugar with the molecular formula . Glucose is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. Glucose is mainly made by plants and most algae during photosynthesis from water and carbon dioxide, u ...
, according to a process developed in 2010. The
bacteria
Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometr ...
involved in the transformation process carry artificial enzymatic material developed through genetic engineering.
It is the only company in the world to have designed a conversion method for renewable resources (residual sugars, agricultural and forestry waste) into isobutene.
Global Bioenergies subsequently agreed a partnership with
Audi
Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide.
Th ...
to produce fuel from the same elementary building blocks as plants (
water
Water (chemical formula ) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living ...
,
hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic ...
,
carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is trans ...