Elevance and Genting join forces for new biorefinery

Elevance Renewable Sciences, a specialty chemicals company, has created a new collaboration with Genting Plantations through Genting Integrated Biorefinery (GIB), to be located in the Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) in Malaysia.

The 25:75 collaboration between Elevance and Genting Plantations will build a 240,000 tonne metathesis biorefinery based on Elevance's proprietary metathesis technology, and will produce renewable olefins and specialty chemicals that can be used in multiple end-product applications, including lubricants, surfactants and detergents.

As part of the collaboration agreement, GIB has agreed to pay Elevance license and design fees, and Elevance will provide intellectual property rights, knowledge transfer, and technical and consulting services. Elevance will also be exclusively responsible for the sale of all specialty chemicals that are produced at the biorefinery.

'Genting Integrated Biorefinery will spearhead our Group's expansion into the high value-added palm oil downstream segment that will showcase palm oil's immense potential to serve an ever-increasing variety of applications and further complement the many initiatives we are pursuing to unlock palm oil's full potential through scientific innovation,' comments Genting Plantations CEO Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay.

The Elevance metathesis biorefinery produces high-value chemical streams similar to petroleum-based refineries. Its low-pressure, low-temperature process consumes less energy and reduces GHG emissions by 50% compared to petrochemical technologies. A selective catalyst breaks down natural oils and recombines fragments, resulting in a process with lower source pollution, production costs and capital expenditures than petrochemical refineries.