Clariant has signed its first license agreement for sunliquid® cellulosic ethanol technology with Enviral, the largest producer of bioethanol in Slovakia.

Enviral has acquired a license to use Clariant’s sunliquid technology as part of its goal to realize a full scale commercial cellulosic ethanol plant for the commercial production of cellulosic ethanol from agricultural residues. This new plant will be owned and operated by Enviral and is planned to be integrated into the existing facilities at Enviral’s Leopoldov site in Slovakia with an annual production capacity of 50,000 tons. It will use Clariant’s sunliquid technology as well as starter cultures from its proprietary enzyme and yeast platforms to process Enviral feedstock into cellulosic ethanol.

Clariant has also announced a new Business Line Biofuels, as a further step in the commercialization of sunliquid and developing the biofuels business across the board. The sunliquid technology offers a completely integrated process design with integrated production of feedstock, process specific enzymes and simultaneous C5 and C6 fermentation ensure best commercial performance.