Clariant is supplying its sunliquid cellulosic ethanol technology to a proposed joint venture in China in which Chemtex Chemical Engineering and China’s Anhui Guozhen Group plan to build a full-scale commercial plant to produce cellulosic ethanol from agricultural residues.

The plant, with a planned capacity of 50,000 t/y, will be located at a greenfield site owned by the Chinese company in Fuyang, Anhui province, in eastern China. Output will serve China’s regional fuels market as a blend into gasoline to fulfill the national blending mandate.

A start-up date has not been disclosed although detailed evaluations and preparations for engineering are said to be well under way with project execution pending a final agreement of certain government contracts. There is an option to double the plant’s capacity in a second phase, which according to Clariant would make it one of the largest in China so far.

“For Clariant, China represents a core growth market where we want to further strengthen our position,” said Hans Bohnen, chief operating officer.” The country is aiming to achieve a 10% bioethanol content in transportation fuels nationwide in the next few years. These regulatory commitments offer substantial growth potential for our sunliquid technology by spurring demand for advanced biofuels.”

Li Wei, founder and chairman of Guozhen Group, added that the company intends to be a pioneer and invest in the first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant in China.

The Anhui region is characterized by agriculture, which Clariant noted guarantees abundant feedstock of wheat straw and corn stover while also maximizing greenhouse gas savings. The Swiss group said cellulosic ethanol produced via its sunliquid technology saves around 95% of greenhouse gases compared to gasoline.

Last September, Clariant signed a license deal for sunliquid technology with Poland’s Orlen Poludnie. The agreement, the group’s second for the process at the time, enables Orlen Poludnie to build a 25,000 t/y plant at Jedlicze in southeastern Poland.

A first sunliquid license was signed in September 2017 with Slovakian bioethanol producer Enviral. The 50,000 t/y plant at Leopoldov was planned to be integrated into Enviral’s existing facilities at the site.

This year, Clariant is also due to produce first batches of product from its flagship sunliquid facility being built in southwest Romania. At full capacity, the 50,000 t/y ethanol plant will process around 250,000 t/y of wheat straw and other cereal straw sourced from local farmers.