Our company is providing technology for the sustainable chemicals sector. We identified furfural as key growing area. It has been produced since 1922 and has not seen any new technology since the 1970's. New products based on furfural have been developed (nematicides to replace the highly toxic agricultural chemicals; Wood treatment to replace CCA; Additives to for clean burning agri-diesel). Furfural's derivatives are used to make Lycra and most recently, a chemical major requires furfural for their nature based PLA performance plastics. High manufacturing costs have so far prevented furfural from realising many other opportunities to provide genuine bio-based chemistry: Furfural is a building block to develop alternatives to coal or oil-based chemicals.
Value Addition to Agricultural Residues
Furfural is an organic chemical produced by hydrolysis of pentosans found in naturally occurring woody material such as agricultural residues (sun flower husks, corn cobs, bagasse, etc.). Furfural is traded in a niche markets and users of our technology will derive substantial value from the beneficiation of their residues. Furthermore, the remains after processing of the fibre, i.e. the residue, has additional commercial value.
Click here for an introduction to the technology or click here for more information about furfural (what it is used for, how it is made, market overview, etc.).