BIO-BASED CHEMICALS

The Bio-based Chemicals and materials market is predicted to growth by over 140% over the next few years (Business Wire, Dec. 2011).  Global companies are working to replace petroleum-based feedstock with renewable feed-stocks for products that range from specialty chemicals to industrial adhesives to plastics.  Many companies which have already transitioned to renewable feed-stocks such as seed oils are looking to make a second generation transition to algae oil, which can provide a consistent supply with reduced price volatility and no impact on the food supply.This market is attractive since in combines a high value per kilogram price with a large market size.  The DOE has identifies 12 building blocks of a bio-based economy which can be converted into hundreds of products across the chemicals, transportation, food and pharmaceutical sectors.  Algae oil is well positioned to lead this transition since it is a suitable replacement for soy and other seed oils since it has comparable characteristics.  The cake, which remains after extraction of the oils, is also a good source of proteins and carbohydrates which can be used to augment other renewable feed-stocks for the bio-fuels, chemical and related industries.