16-06-2022

Nextchem strengthens partnership with GranBio

Europe’s strict regulations and challenging targets for the decarbonization of transports are driving a rapidly growing demand for bio and low carbon fuels, with bioethanol alone expected to show a CAGR of over 4% during the 2022-2027 period.

As part of its green acceleration roadmap, Maire Tecnimont Group’s NextChem partnered up with Brazil-based GranBio in 2020 to co-develop and co-license the 2G ethanol technology which converts non-food lignocellulosic biomass into low-carbon second generation biofuels.

The European patent for GranBio’s 2G ethanol production technology (GP3+®) has now been officially granted in 31 countries including those rich in feedstocks such as Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia. Such technology is a flexible and profitable solution to produce second generation bio-ethanol, a globally used fuel with enormous potential as feedstock for green chemistry processes. GranBio has been successfully producing 2G ethanol since 2014 at its plant located in São Miguel dos Campos, in Alagoas (Brazil), the first and only one of this kind currently operating on an industrial scale.  

The partnership between NextChem and GranBio combines exclusive Technology development and Co-Licensing for the conversion of agricultural waste and residues in second generation bioethanol, leveraging on NextChem's engineering and technology competences and the Group’s EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) expertise, its global presence and vast offering of integrated services.

Validated technologies like GP3+® will play a significant role in the development of a new industrial infrastructure for sustainable mobility needed to meet EU targets by 2035. NextChem and GranBio will keep contributing to the process of decarbonizing the fuel sector in an efficient, profitable, and carbon-neutral way.