Biobased chemicals face a fraught year

The world of biobased chemicals will be tumultuous in 2026. In some corners, new technology platforms will emerge, and companies will start to produce meaningful volumes. In other corners, start-ups and projects will falter and fall as an uncertain policy environment scares off investors, especially in the US. The year is likely to be rough for many companies commercializing biobased chemicals and fuels, according to Jim Flatt, CEO of DMC Biotechnologies. The US government has pulled sharply away from supporting cleantech, and many consumer-facing firms that were interested in the environmental benefits of biobased feedstocks are backing away from their sustainability goals in response. Flatt said biobased chemicals will have an easier time than sustainable fuels because the sector enjoys fewer federal subsidies. He said he’s always urged his bioeconomy peers to have business plans that benefit from subsidies but don’t require them. “The companies that make it through this will have the ability to thrive.” DMC, one of C&EN’s 10 Start-Ups to Watch in 2022, said at the Alternative Fuels and Chemicals Coalition’s recent annual meeting in Washington, DC, that this year, it will start selling myo-inositol to the nutraceutical market at a scale of hundreds of metric tons and l-alanine to cleaning-product makers at thousands of metric tons. DMC installs metabolic switches in fermentation microbes so that operators can toggle between growth and production phases with simple chemical cues. Other firms are doing this kind of biosynthesis outside the cell. One start-up that even pulls its name from