BIOBASED CHEMICALS
Sebastian Anton
DIRECTOR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
AFYREN
Figure 2 – Afyren approach
Südzucker , Europe ’ s largest sugar producer , will provide the biorefinery ’ s supply of sugar beet co-products . The Afyren process is able to adapt to other sustainable feedstocks , but the microorganism mix and other parameters would have to be adjusted .
Lifecycle analysis
Afyren is working to make its process even more efficient and environmentally sound . Three years ago , we partnered with sustainability consulting firm Sphera , who conducted the first environmental study of our products through ‘ cradleto-gate ’ lifecycle analysis ( LCA ) for the 2018-2019 period , based on preindustrial data . The latest LCA update , using data from 2020 , gives a more complete environmental assessment of the future biorefinery under construction in Carling Saint-Avold . It shows that Afyren ’ s biobased acids have on average a carbon footprint 81 % lower than equivalent petroleum-based products . This means that Afyren ’ s production will allow savings of more than 30,000 ' tonnes / year of greenhouse gas emissions . One of the key elements to reducing the environmental impact was the location of the factory . Afyren ’ s first plant is being constructed within the Chemesis platform , an association of chemical companies located at the same site in order to develop synergies and to share infrastructure . Hooking up to available utilities , such as water , power and steam , was easy , brought additional competitiveness and avoided building new facilities from scratch .
Afyren and Sphera will carry out a critical review of the LCA analysis and plan further iterations to create other sustainability assessments in an effort to continually minimise the environmental impact of its products .
Different approaches , different measures
Moving from 100 % petro-based to fully biobased production is too big a leap for many players in the chemical industry . However , other new products and solutions have been emerging as options for more sustainable chemistry . It is important , though , to distinguish the different ways of measuring sustainability . The most common approach is mass balance , which describes a model where conventional and more sustainable raw materials get commingled in an integrated production system . The sustainable part of the production is allocated to a selection of final certified products , which may not necessarily contain the actual sustainable raw material . While this approach encourages industry players to buy and use more sustainably produced ingredients , customers need to be sensitive when it comes to the correct labelling of products produced using the mass balance approach . The final certified products benefit from a claim that reflects the sustainable approach but not necessarily its exact physical content . When applied to bioeconomy , the mass balance approach involves the gradual substitution of fossil feedstocks by renewable feedstocks , with attribution along the value chain .
These products should be considered as renewable-attributed products and should not be called ‘ bio-based products ’ in order to avoid any confusion for the consumer . Further claims are derived from exchanging fossil feedstock for renewable feedstock through the mass balance process . The ISO 140212 standard helps specify self-declared environmental claims regarding industrial products . By contrast , a segregated approach consists of materials or molecules produced with a mixture of fossil and renewable raw materials ( Figure 1 ). Fossil resources and renewable feedstocks are mixed in the same production system and flows are merged . The final product physically contains exactly what is claimed and what has been integrated at the beginning of the process . Afyren is pursuing a segregated , 100 % biobased chemistry approach , which allows the customer to buy a product that is entirely made from biomass without any petro-based component all . That means all the molecules ’ carbon atoms originate from biomass . As opposed to other approaches where the actual content of biomass can only be calculated theoretically , the biogenic carbon content ( or biocontent ) in Afyren products can be determined precisely and checked by the C 14 radiocarbon dating method required by the norms ISO 16620-25 and EN 16785-16 ( Figure 2 ). The result is a significantly reduced carbon footprint that contributes to a zero greenhouse gas emissions target while at the same time respecting nature with a circular process . •
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