France-based Butagaz, a subsidiary of the Irish DCC Group and leading French distributor of bottled gas and France-headed biochemical process developer Global Bioenergies have unveiled the first bottles of bio-sourced gas – propane and butane with 10 to 15 percent blend of bio-isobutene.
Butagaz, a leading French multi-energy company, distributes natural gas, electricity, wood pellets, as well as conventional bottled propane and butane gas. To achieve its aim of reducing the carbon footprint of its propane and butane value chains even further, Butagaz signed an exclusive partnership deal in France with Global Bioenergies in January 2017.
Incorporating bio-isobutene in Butagaz’s butane and propane gas bottles could reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by up to 40 percent over the entire life cycle of the bottled gas preliminary Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) results suggest.
The supply of this bio-sourced gas, which will be distributed for the first time in France at an Intermarché point of sale, is a first and decisive step towards furthering the aim of contributing to meeting France’s greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reduction target by driving innovation.
A few months ago we reached a major milestone in our multi-energy diversification strategy by distributing natural gas, electricity and wood pellets to individual households. I had said that this was only the beginning. I feel a great sense of pride today in introducing an innovation that combines cutting-edge technologies and our long-standing expertise. This exclusive offer of bio-sourced gas can significantly reduce CO2 emissions throughout the gas life cycle, from production through to sale, explained Emmanuel Trivin, Chairman of Butagaz.
Global Bioenergies is developing a process to convert renewable resources, such as sugar beet, into hydrocarbons through fermentation. Butagaz is contributing financially to Global Bioenergies’ industrial development in return for reserved batches of bio-isobutene, whose physical and chemical properties are close to those of butane and propane.
The first gas bottles containing between 10 and 15 percent bio-isobutene and were produced by Global Bioenergies’ demo plant at Leuna in Germany
This is a new and strategic step towards achieving our joint aim of offering a choice of energy solutions to French consumers in the future to help them further reduce their carbon footprint. With our demo plant operational, we can now reach consumers directly for the first time. This latest development is another step forward in building up the commercial ecosystem of IBN-One, our future first full-scale plant, said Marc Delcourt, CEO of Global Bioenergies.
In the long term, Butagaz will have the potential to purchase large quantities of “made in France” bio-isobutene when the first Global Bioenergies’ plant comes on stream at the sugar producer Cristal Union’s site in Champagne.
