Paolo Corvo, head of sales and marketing for Clariant, painted a grim scene for future world energy demands at the 2019 ABLC Conference in Washington, D.C.
Global emissions hit a record high in 2018 with energy demands expected to increase by 30% by the year 2040.
To accommodate the growing need for alternative-fuel production, Clariant has developed a new cellulosic ethanol/sugar refinement platform called Sunliquid. Sunliquid is an integrated refinement solution borne out of a market need for a streamlined and simplified cellulosic ethanol/sugar refinement process.
Clariant and Sunliquid are able to deliver enzymes, find solutions for side-products, and provide support to help partner producers through the process. In this way, Clariant can act as a one-stop-shop and reduce the traditional burden of dealing with a complex network of suppliers that can come with partnering with a traditional ethanol refinement facility
Clariant, according to Corvo, is able to do this while reducing overall production costs by reducing the most expensive components of production including feedstock flexibility and enzyme production.
By using non-commodity feedstocks, users can use a variety of locally-available inputs, which often come at reduced cost.
Integrated enzyme production re-uses a portion of the carbon by-product from the feedstock which reduces waste and costs as well.
According to Corvo, the Sunliquid platform is engineered to be a local and sustainable as possible while creating a sustainable fuel source to meet growing demand.