EU project LIGNOFLAG: Clariant completes construction of first commercial sunliquid® cellulosic ethanol plant in Romania

Clariant, a focused, sustainable and innovative specialty chemical company, today announced the official completion of its sunliquid® cellulosic ethanol plant in Podari, Romania. The completed construction is an important next step for the commercial deployment of sunliquid® technology and thus supports Clariant’s sunliquid® licensing business strategy. The facility will be operational in the fourth quarter, producing cellulosic ethanol from agricultural residues. BayFOR is a partner in the EU project LIGNOFLAG.

Conrad Keijzer, Chief Executive Officer at Clariant, commented, “Biofuels and biochemicals produced from agricultural residues play a key role in reducing our carbon footprint. This investment and the successful commercialization of this new technology represents a major milestone for Clariant and is a further proof point for our ambitious growth strategy, led by innovations that contribute to a more sustainable world.”

This investment also brings substantial economic benefits to the region. By locally sourcing feedstock, greenhouse gas emission reduction can be maximized. Also, additional business opportunities will arise along the regional value chain. Co-products produced by the process will be used for the generation of renewable energy, making the plant independent of fossil energy sources. Therefore, the resulting cellulosic ethanol is an almost carbon neutral second generation biofuel. Besides application as a drop-in solution for fuel blending, this offers further downstream application opportunities into bio-based chemicals and for sustainable aviation fuel.

“It is encouraging to see how far we have come since the start of the development of our sunliquid® technology in 2006. The technology was successfully implemented in our pre-commercial plant in 2012 and five sunliquid® technology licenses have been sold in both Europe and China since then. This milestone in Romania underlines our commitment to building a more sustainable future”, added Christian Librera, Clariant’s Head of Business Line Biofuels and Derivatives.

The plant in Podari, Dolj county, is built on a 10-hectare area on which construction was initiated in 2019 with up to 800 workers onsite. Contracts with more than 300 local farmers have been signed to ensure the supply of the necessary feedstock.

The project receives funding of around 50 million euros from the European Union's Seventh Framework Program for research, technological development and demonstration under Grant Agreement no. 322386 (SUNLIQUID) and from the Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement no. 709606 (LIGNOFLAG).

Find out more about the EU project LIGNOFLAG here.