Lygos plans commercial plant for biobased chemicals

Lygos is taking a stab at large-scale biobased chemical production. The 13-year-old specialty chemical firm is partnering with CJ Bio to build a facility in Fort Dodge, Iowa, that will produce 40,000 metric tons (t) per year of polyaspartates and malonates from aspartic acid and malonic acid. Lygos has developed yeast strains that can convert sugar into the two organic acids, which are normally derived from fossil fuels. CJ will use that technology to produce the acids at a plant in Fort Dodge, where it already makes fermentation-derived amino acids . Lygos will build adjacent facilities that chemically transform the acids into products with applications in personal care, coatings, and agriculture. The company says the site could eventually produce up to 100,000 t per year of biobased chemicals. The initial phase of Lygos’s project would result in one of the largest biobased chemical plants in the US. Qore is building