BASF and Purac have announced that they are establishing a joint venture for the production and sale of biobased succinic acid. Purac is a subsidiary of CSM.
The new company, called Succinity GmbH, will begin operations in 2013 and will be headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany.
BASF and CSM have been conducting research on succinic acid under a joint development agreement since 2009. The complementary strengths in fermentation and downstream processing led to the development of a sustainable and highly efficient manufacturing process based on a proprietary microorganism. The bacterium used is Basfia succiniciproducens, which produces succinic acid through natural processes. It is capable of metabolizing a variety of renewable feedstocks into succinic acid. The new process combines high efficiency with the use of renewable raw materials and the fixation of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in the production of succinic acid. This makes biobased succinic acid an economically and ecologically sustainable alternative to petrochemical raw materials.
