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Special Report: Bio-Aromatics: Reforming the Future
Report Overview
Subjects addressed:
Technical feasibility of various bio-aromatics production
technologies:

Comparative economics of developing bio-aromatics

routes compared to conventional petrochemical
routes.

Commercial status and industry developments.

Announced and risk adjusted project listing.

Downstream potential and implications.

Strategic insights and analysis.

Bio-aromatics developments have been progressing

significantly. They have been receiving substantial market
pull from chemical and fuels markets. Polyethylene
terephthalate (PET) end-users, particularly, are seeking
bio-alternatives. The new cola war between Coke and
Pepsi is over bio-PET bottles. While the Plantbottle
produced by Coke is actually only partially renewable
(utilizing bio-ethylene glycol, the minor of the two
monomers), the race is on to produce a totally renewable
bottle.
Additionally, important trends in the petrochemicals
industry have combined to affect the global market
outlook for aromatics. The North American shale gas
revolution has greatly increased supply and decreased
the price of natural gas and associated liquids.
Concurrently, the production of light sweet crude from
tight oil fields in the United States previously considered
uneconomical to exploit has begun to change the
composition of U.S. refinery feedstocks, where aromatics
are mostly produced. In China, methanol-to-olefins
(MTO) technologies are rapidly being deployed at the
expense of new naphtha cracking capacity. Combined,
these circumstances have contributed to considerable
uncertainty about the supply, price and economics of
aromatics.
Routes to bio-reformate (reformate is an important
refinery stream used as a gasoline blendstock, as well as
an important source from which aromatics are extracted),
bio-gasoline (a fungible or drop-in biologically produced
gasoline), as well as direct production of specific olecules
(i.e., para-xylene) are emerging as sources of bioaromatics, which will not only be green but may help to
also make up any shortfall in supply.

Similarly, the rapidly growing movement to label products as

green is an important driver for durable goods manufacturers,
who are keen to discover ways to utilise growing volumes of
renewable materials.
Reflecting these trends, many fossil fuel-based chemical
producers have been diversifying into bio-based technologies
through investments, partnerships and acquisitions.
Nexant plans to undertake a new multi-client study with the
objective to profile and assess developments in bio-aromatics.
This multi-client report will build on Nexants extensive array of
intellectual capital in this area to answer the following questions:

What technologies are under development? How real are

these developments?

What is the current status of development?

When are these technologies targeting commercialization?

How real are these goals?

Which major oil and chemical majors are partnering with

which developers? What does it mean?

What feedstocks are they utilizing? How might that impact

their profitability? How sensitive are they to feedstock
costs?

What markets are being targeted? What markets could be

impacted?

What do the economics of these emerging technologies

look like? Are they competitive?

Nexants multi-client report will assess the technical,

commercial, and economic status of producing bio-aromatics.
Bio-aromatics have the potential to significantly supplement
(and, in certain scenarios, perhaps replace) petrochemical
feedstocks, for chemicalsand potentially help make up for
any shortfalls. The study will consider critical elements of the
conventional aromatics supply chain in evaluating this potential.
For information regarding the upcoming Bio-Aromatics:
Reforming the Future report, please contact STMC@nexant.
com.NexantThinking Programs.

NexantThinking Programs provide subscribers and users with comprehensive analytics,

forecasts and insights for the energy, chemicals, polymers and clean tech industries
For more information, please visit us at: http://thinking.nexant.com

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