18 Feb 2016

Bioethanol made from agricultural residues used for the first time in cleaning agents

Clariant and Werner & Mertz collaborate
Clariant supplies cellulosic ethanol made with sunliquid® technology for Frosch® Bio-Spirit Multisurface-Cleaner
Second-generation bioethanol is produced from local agricultural residues without competing with food sources

Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, in cooperation with Werner & Mertz, the producer of Frosch® products, has launched a project which expands the possible applications of bioethanol made from agricultural residues such as straw to detergents, cleansers and cleaning agents. sunliquid® bioethanol has been used in Frosch® Bio-Spirit Multisurface-Cleaner since the beginning of the year. As part of this, Clariant supplied the cellulosic ethanol, also called bio spirit, at the end of 2015 from its pre-commercial plant in Straubing, where up to 1 000 tons of cellulosic ethanol are produced annually using the sunliquid® process.

»Bio-based chemicals from local straw, such as cellulosic ethanol, are truly sustainable and advanced active ingredients. The collaboration with Werner & Mertz demonstrates once again that products based on agricultural residues, which are produced without the use of fossil fuels and are not in competition with food supply, are also relevant in the consumer goods sector,« says Professor Andre Koltermann, Head of Group Biotechnology at Clariant. »We are very happy with the fact that we can realize this pioneering project with a renowned partner such as Werner & Mertz, and this demonstrates the diversity of the areas of application of our sunliquid® technology, which can also be implemented in other industries.«

Werner & Mertz, the family-run company based in Mainz, also welcomes the collaboration. With the “recyclate initiative” for packaging and the Frosch® initiative for “locally-grown active ingredients,” the company has already been engaging in pioneering work in the field of sustainability for some time and wishes to further expand this through the use of another plant-based raw material, the sunliquid® cellulosic alcohol. »At Werner & Mertz, we have a tradition of doing business based on the principle of sustainability. We always try to meet the needs of our customers with new and sustainable solutions. The collaboration with Clariant reaffirms our commitment to protect the environment and resources,« adds Reinhard Schneider, Managing Partner at Werner & Mertz.

Alcohol has been known for its grease and dirt-dissolving properties for decades. Through the use of cellulosic alcohol in Frosch® Bio-Spirit Multisurface-Cleaner, these properties are coupled with sustainable and environmentally friendly manufacturing: due to its virtually carbon-neutral production, cellulosic ethanolsaves up to 95 % of CO2 emissions compared to synthetic ethanol from fossil resources. At the same time, it is produced from local residues and does not compete with food production or arable land.

Frosch® Bio-Spirit Multisurface -Cleaner Orange has been produced with the sunliquid® bio-alcohol since the beginning of this year and is available at German retailers as of February 2016.

Reader enquiries

Clariant International Ltd
Rothausstrasse 61
4132 Muttenz 1
Switzerland

ClariantInternational

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Notes for editors

sunliquid® IS A TRADEMARK OF CLARIANT REGISTERED IN MANY COUNTRIES.

www.clariant.com

Clariant is a globally leading specialty chemicals company, based in Muttenz near Basel/Switzerland. On 31 December 2015 the company employed a total workforce of 17’213. In the financial year 2015, Clariant recorded sales of CHF 5.807 billion for its continuing businesses. The company reports in four business areas: Care Chemicals, Catalysis, Natural Resources, and Plastics & Coatings. Clariant’s corporate strategy is based on five pillars: increase profitability, reposition portfolio, add value with sustainability, foster innovation and R&D, and intensify growth.

One center of production and research is in Germany. A total of about 4,500 employees work for Clariant companies in Germany. The company manufactures a broad palette of chemical specialties at 16 locations in Germany, which includes several thousand unique products. They play a decisive role both in the manufacturing and processing processes of customers or add value-enhancing properties to their end products. The largest production facilities worldwide are located in Frankfurt-Höchst and in Gendorf. The Clariant Innovation Center in Frankfurt is at the heart of the company’s global innovation network. Some 500 researchers and developers, application engineers and analysts have their laboratories and offices here.

www.sunliquid.com

sunliquid® is an innovative, biotechnological process for manufacturing cellulosic ethanol from agricultural residues, such as cereal straw, corn stover or sugarcane bagasse. During the fully integrated process, highly optimized, feedstock-specific biocatalysts split cellulose and hemicellulose into fermentable sugars under stable processing conditions in high yields. As a result, the process-integrated production of the biocatalysts offers flexibility and reduces production costs. In the next step, an optimized fermentation organism allows both C5 and C6 sugars to be converted into ethanol, thereby increasing the ethanol yield by about 50 percent. An innovative purification process developed by Clariant is instrumental in enabling all the energy required for the process to be harvested from the insoluble residue lignin. The resulting cellulosic ethanol saves about 95% of CO2 emissions in comparison to fossil fuels. Since July 2012, Clariant has been operating a pre-commercial plant in Straubing, producing up to 1.000 metric tons of cellulosic ethanol from around 4.500 metric tons of raw materials each year.

For more information about the Frosch “Locally-grown active ingredients” initiative, please visit www.initiative-frosch.de.

Related images

sunliquid® cellulosic ethanol from straw replaces 100 percent of the conventional ethanol in Frosch Bio-Spirit Multisurface-Cleaner.
(Photo: Werner & Mertz)

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