While demand for the artificial sweetener xylitol grows, expensive raw materials and low yields have kept production prices high. Now, a new process from S2G BioChem aims to produce xylitol in a more cost-effective way, utilizing byproducts from pulp-and-paper plants and biorefineries as feedstock. \u201cThese are growing sources of xylose-rich sugars that we can take advantage of,\u201d says Mark Kirby, president and chief executive officer of S2G Biochem. He explains that while these feedstocks are not typically suitable for traditional xylitol manufacturing processes, the high efficiency of S2G\u2019s method makes their use feasible. According to Kirby, S2G\u2019s technology can achieve xylitol yields double that of traditional processes. Another factor contributing to the economics of the process is the production of saleable co-products, including ethylene glycol and propylene glycol. \u201cWhatever we don\u2019t turn into xylitol, we turn into high-value biochemicals,\u201d explains Kirby.<\/p>\n
In S2G\u2019s process, fractionated biomass is cleaned and conditioned and then sent to a trickle-bed catalytic hydrotreating process employing a non-rare-earth catalyst in a packed bed. In the presence of hydrogen, the sugar content is converted into sugar alcohols, including xylitol. The remaining sugars are further processed and converted into bioglycols. Finally, crystallization is used to isolate the xylitol, and a distillation step separates the bioglycols. The benefits of a catalytic biomass transformation versus a biological process, such as fermentation, include a faster conversion time, scalability and the ability to run continuously.<\/p>\n
S2G has operated a xylitol pilot plant since 2012 and intends to construct a larger-scale demonstration biorefinery in Sarnia, Ont. that will produce over 2,000 metric tons per year (m.t.\/yr) of xylitol. Full-scale operation is expected to commence in 2019. For the construction of the new biorefinery, S2G has seen support from several industry partners, including global food company Mondelez International.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While demand for the artificial sweetener xylitol grows, expensive raw materials and low yields have kept production prices high. Now, a new process from S2G BioChem aims to produce xylitol in a more cost-effective way, utilizing byproducts from pulp-and-paper plants and biorefineries as feedstock. \u201cThese are growing sources of xylose-rich sugars that we can take […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[6843,5831],"supplier":[12183],"class_list":["post-44984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-biochemicals","tag-biorefinery","supplier-s2gbiochem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44984\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44984"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=44984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}