Technip and Metabolic Explorer Sign Agreement to Evaluate Combined Polymer Technology

Technip and METabolic EXplorer have signed an agreement to assess the feasibility of offering a combined technology package consisting of the companies’ respective PDO(1) and PTT(2) technologies. The evaluation will include a technical and commercial review with a goal of bringing the bundled technology package to the market for licensing.

PTT is used for the production of high quality textile fibers, packaging films and engineered plastics. The growth potential of the PTT market is currently hampered by limited quantities of PDO, a feedstock used to produce PTT.

METabolic Explorer has developed a patented, efficient technology to produce PDO through the fermentation of crude glycerins from either vegetable oils (first generation) or recycled oils (second generation).

Technip’ s operating center in Frankfurt, Germany, which operates as Technip Zimmer Process Technology(3), licenses the PTT technology, which was developed in the 1990s in their research center in Frankfurt, Germany, and commercialized in the early 2000. Technip’s center in Lyon, France, which has provided engineering services for Metex’s PDO technology, will support this new evaluation effort.

By combining these complementary technologies, METabolic EXplorer and Technip Zimmer seek to offer a complete industrial solution for the production of biosourced PTT to the market.