Vision

We envision the development of a sustainable global economy where “Sugar is the New Crude™”

Until now, crude oil (a non renewable resource) has served as the principle feedstock for the manufacture of fuels, chemicals, and products such as plastics and pharmaceuticals. Today these products can be made from cellulosic sugars derived from abundant and renewable biomass.

API strives to become the leading provider of biomass-derived sugars to a wide range of biofuel and biochemical producers.

The United States is addicted to foreign crude oil.

• We import 49% of the petroleum used.
• We send ~$1billion per day overseas to buy oil.

Sugar prices are escalating.

• Sugar from food-based crops is increasingly being diverted to fuel production.
• In just the past two years, food prices have jumped 75 percent in real terms.

With our technology, cellulosic sugars are a low cost replacement for sugars from corn and sugar cane.

• They are available from woody and agricultural residues biomass.
• They do not compete with food.
• They are environmentally sustainable.
• They are synergistic with energy security and rural job creation.
• They have an improved carbon footprint.

Green Chemistry - Ethanol as a platform molecule

Our whole society currently revolves around oil and it’s not just about transportation.

Plastics, paints, aerosol propellants and solvents – a multitude of everyday products- are all made from oil.

According to the most recent World Energy Outlook report:

• Oil prices will rebound to more than $100/barrel once the economy recovers and will exceed $200 by 2030.
• Output from the world's oil field is declining at a rate of 9%.

All chemicals that can be produced from oil can instead be made from ethanol. Ethanol is an important industrial ingredient and has widespread use as a base chemical for other organic compounds that are used in the manufacture of plastics, paints, solvents, food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and materials.

SEKAB, Europe’s largest supplier of green chemicals produces acetaldehyde, ethyl acetate and acetic anhydride from ethanol.

Acetaldehyde is a platform chemical, that is, it is an important raw material in the manufacture of other chemical products. It is used for example as a paint binder in alkyd paints, and as a plasticizer in plastics. Acetaldehyde is also used in the manufacture of construction materials, fire protection paints and explosives. The pharmaceutical and cosmetics industry uses acetaldehyde in its production of for instance sedatives and tranquilizers.Acetaldehyde is also a raw material in the manufacture of acetic acid, another basic chemical with many applications.

Ethyl acetate is a solvent used in many contexts, including dissolvent for paints, varnishes, plastics and rubber. It is used as a solvent in for example printing inks, varnishes and car care chemicals and in the manufacture of enamels, plastics and rubber. Ethyl acetate is used in the food industry in the manufacture of flavoring and in the pharmaceutical industry as an extraction solvent in the production of pharmaceuticals.

Acetic anhydride is a so called intermediate chemical within organic synthesis. Its largest application is for the conversion of cellulose into cellulose acetate, which is used in the production of plastic and textile fibers. Acetic anhydride is also important raw material for pharmaceuticals, for instance acetylsalicylic acid which is included in aspirin.

Braskem, a Brazilian world leader in the field of biopolymers first produced green polyethylene on a commercial scale in September 2010 using sugarcane ethanol.

Polyethylene is the most widely used type of plastic in the world, especially by the automotive industry and manufacturers of cosmetics, packaging, toy, personal hygiene and cleaning products, among others.

Braskem will shortly be launching Green polypropylene on the market , another product made from sugarcane ethanol. Investments in this new product will total around USD 100 million and production capacity will be 30,000 tons per year or more. The unit is expected to go online by 2013.

Polypropylene is the second most used plastic in the world and has unique features that set it apart from all other polymers, including an excellent balance of physical properties, the possibility of high transparency and impact resistance at low temperatures, low density - enabling production of lighter products - and tremendous versatility for numerous applications.

In September 2010 Coca Cola Brasil launched it’s new “plantbottle’ in which 30% of the plastic consists of plastic made from ethanol.

The Andersons, have announced that they are doing research to make chemicals or polymers out of ethanol generated in biorefineries.

Swedish Biofuels is producing jet fuel (JP-8 equivalent) and navy diesel (F-76 equivalent form ethanol).