Swiss specialty chemicals company Clariant is to develop and scale up catalysts for Gevo’s ethanol-to-olefins (ETO) process technology. The single-step process uses Gevo’s proprietary mixed metal oxide catalysts to produce tailored mixes of polymer-grade propylene, high-purity isobutylene and hydrogen from fuel-grade ethanol.

Gevo said once the ETO technology has been successfully developed and scaled up, Clariant will be able to produce the quantities of catalyst needed to meet commercial production requirements. It added that while Clariant works on developing the catalyst, Gevo will focus most of its resources on the ongoing optimization of its core isobutanol technology.

ETO technology, said Gevo, has the potential to provide the ethanol industry, estimated at 25 billion gallons globally, a much broader set of end-product markets and margin opportunities beyond its use as a gasoline blendstock.

“We see the potential with this technology to address several major opportunities cutting across chemicals, plastics, fuels and hydrogen, said Gevo’s CEO Patrick Guber. Gevo has filed a series of patent applications relating to the technology and anticipates growing its ETO business through licensing.