Speciality Chemicals Magazine JUL / AUG 2021 | Page 6

NEWS

Origin-Artius merger boosts ' carbon-negativity '

Origin ’ s process turns biomass waste into materials
Shareholders approved the previously announced merger between Origin Materials and special-purpose acquisition company Artius Acquisition on 24 June . Origin is now listed on the Nasdaq . Eight days before this , Apollo Global Management had agreed to invest up to $ 30 million in Artius in support of the combination and a further three million shares on closing of the transaction . The transaction values Origin at $ 1.8 billion and is expected to provide up to $ 925 million in gross proceeds . This comprises Artius ’ $ 725 million and $ 200 million in fully committed equity at $ 10 / share , including investments from Danone , Nestlé Waters , PepsiCo , Mitsubishi Gas Chemical and AECI , plus various private equity investors . Based in West Sacramento , Origin claims to be the world ’ s leading “ carbon-negative materials company ”. It has developed a process that treats lignocellulosic feedstock from non-food biomass , such as wood chips , with hydrochloric acid , so as to catalyse the hydrolysis and dehydration of cellulose and hemicellulose . The reaction forms an alcohol that reacts with the acid to form the platform chemical , chloromethyl furfural . This in turn can be transformed into p-xylene , a precursor to terephthalic acid , the raw material for PET – hence the involvement of beverage makers . Other products include levulinic acid and furfural , as well as hydrothermal carbon , which can be reused as a raw material for carbon black and activated carbon . This technology is described as drop-in ready and is expected to be cost-competitive with petroleum-based materials and a fraction of the cost of other technologies . It is claimed to address a ~$ 1 trillion market opportunity . Applications include clothing , textiles , plastics , packaging , car parts , tyres , carpeting and toys . Origin said that it expects the transaction , together with anticipated financing and grants , should fully fund it until it is EBITDA-positive , enabling it to scale production to meet signed customer off-take and capacity reservations of $ 1.9 billion . It expects its first commercial plant at Sarnia , Ontario , to be operational in 2022 with capacity of 25,000 tonnes / year . A second should follow in 2025 . In addition , Origin has just formed a strategic alliance with software firm Palantir Technologies . It plans to use Palantir ’ s Foundry data integration and modelling technology to support the acceleration of its internal operations and “ to help companies decarbonise their supply chains on their journey to net zero ”.
6 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981