S2G successfully scales up production

S2G’s proprietary process was integrated into Pennakem’s existing chemical facility beginning in April 2016 and has produced industrial-grade sugar-based glycols from natural, non-food waste during a five-week scale-up campaign. The bio-glycols will be used as a drop-in replacement for common petroleum-based chemicals currently used in a wide range of consumer and industrial products such as resins, PET/PEF plastic drink containers, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, coolants and antifreeze.

“The successful demonstration of S2G’s Bio-Glycol Process at scale validated the reliability and economic viability of our technology based on solid operational experience,” said Mark Kirby, president and chief executive officer of S2G. “While glycol supply has long been dominated by oil and natural gas, S2G has proven our ability to provide natural, fossil-free glycols that challenge petrochemical glycols on both cost and performance.”

In addition, S2G achieved three significant customer-based milestones throughout the campaign. These included successful product evaluations by multiple industrial customers; the sale of bio-glycols to an industrial resin plant; and, the production of sample quantities of United States Pharmacopeia (USP) quality propylene glycol (PG) that has been reserved for select glycol customers who have expressed interest in sourcing bio-glycols as a replacement for their petrochemical-derived sources.

“S2G bio-glycols have identical performance to petroleum-based materials, yet they generate far less greenhouse gas emissions,” said Jeff Plato, director of corporate and business development of S2G. “S2G looks forward to its products being integrated into the value chains of multi-national consumer and industrial product companies who want to curtail petrochemical-use and provide more sustainable products for their customers.”

“We are extremely impressed with the seamless integration of S2G’s innovative, high-yield bioconversion process into our existing chemical production infrastructure,” said Tom Waldman, president of Pennakem. “The combination of S2G’s innovative process and Pennakem’s 75 years of manufacturing expertise using biorenewable feedstocks will lower costs and could catalyze the demand for sustainably and economically produced bio-based glycols.”

S2G’s “sugar-to-glycol” technology is a simple, durable, and efficient process that utilizes low-cost renewable feedstocks to co-produce an economical supply of high value speciality chemicals and sustainable bio-glycols for use by consumer and industrial product manufacturers.