European policymakers are eager to make the continent’s chemical industry more sustainable and less dependent on imported fossil fuels. To that end, the Spanish start-up Catalyxx has secured $22 million in European Union (EU) funding to support the construction of a biobased higher alcohol plant in Sines, Portugal.
The funding was awarded through RenewChem, an EU project aimed at delivering Europe’s first industrial production of biobased alcohols that can replace conventional, fossil-based petrochemicals.
Catalyxx, which uses a chemocatalytic process to convert ethanol into alcohols such as n-hexanol and n-butanol, will lead the project in a consortium with other chemical firms, including Arkema and Evonik Industries. The start-up operates a demonstration plant in Seville, Spain, and last year partnered with Arkema to develop biobased acrylic resins.
Catalyxx expects the Portuguese facility to cost $132 million and produce 30,000 metric tons of alcohols per year. It won Project of National Interest (PIN) status from the Portuguese government, meaning it will be fast-tracked through the regulatory approval process. With environmental permits already issued, Catalyxx expects to start construction by the end of the year.
In a press release, CEO Joaquín Alarcón hails RenewChem for “strengthening Europe’s security of supply and strategic autonomy in critical chemical value chains,” which he called “increasingly important” at a turbulent time for the continent’s chemical industry.
Interest in diversifying feedstocks is on the rise in Europe because the supply of conventional petrochemicals is under strain from the war in Iran and the periodic closure of the Strait of Hormuz. “Supply of petroleum has always been volatile, [but] this has once again demonstrated that Europe cannot rely on imports,” Alarcón tells C&EN.
Domestically sourced alternatives to petrochemicals can increase the continent’s supply security, Alarcón says, and potentially give struggling industries an edge over competitors in countries, such as the US and China, with cheaper feedstocks. “They need to do something differently and that is perhaps focusing on more sustainable solutions,” he says.
Ethanol fits the bill, being widely available, locally produced, and subject to lower price volatility than imported petroleum. But converting it into substitutes for large-volume industrial petrochemicals still comes with challenges. “The question is where the sugar source for ethanol is coming from,” says Andreas Heyl, chief technology officer for the German food biotech company Formo and an independent consultant.
According to the most recent figures from the renewable ethanol industry body ePure, Europe produced 6.82 billion L of ethanol in 2024. Of these, 49.6% came from corn, 23.4% from wheat, 11.9% from sugars, 10.0% from lignocellulose, and 5.1% from other cereals and starch-rich crops.
Growing these crops requires arable land that might be used for food and feed instead, Heyl says. It also takes vast amounts of water and fertilizer, which is expensive because of high natural gas prices. Heyl is skeptical that the benefits of biobased substitutes that aren’t cheaper than conventional industrial chemicals are enough to bring about large-scale uptake.
“It’s nice to build a toolbox, [but] I have doubts that prices and availability will be so impacted by the geopolitical situation that we get competitive with bioproducts,” Heyl says. A guaranteed supply deal with a large customer would be a positive sign. An EU grant like RenewChem is helpful, he says, but it’s “not a take-or-pay agreement with Shell.”
