Biofuels firm hiring for industrial upscale
19 Sep 2013
French biofuels company Global Bioenergies today announced its latest management hire as it begins the industrial upscaling of its production processes.
The firm has appointed Denis Thibaut, until now the leader of French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi’s fermentation development unit, to head up its own fermentation department.
Global Bioenergies develops processes to convert biomass into light olefins, the key building blocks of the petrochemical industry. So far it has successfully produced isobutene, propylene and butadiene.
Thibaut’s appointment comes as the firm begins to produce isobutene on an industrial scale after it secured €23 million through a share issue on the New York Stock Exchange in June.
Global Bioenergies pushes back the limits of industrial biology
Denis Thibaut
That same month Global Bioenergies also secured €5.2 million funding from the French government for its industrial pilot project, which will be installed at the Bazancourt Pomacle biorefinery, near Reims.
This industrial pilot will comprise a 500 litre fermenter with a yearly production capacity of 10 tons, as well as a purification unit installed downstream of the fermenter to allow the production of intermediate purity isobutene batches.
“The innovative processes for the bioproduction of gaseous olefins developed by Global Bioenergies push back the limits of industrial biology,” said Thibaut.
“I am extremely pleased to join this team and to contribute to the industrial development of the company and to its ambition to reshape the fundamentals of petrochemistry.”
Thibaut’s hiring is the second management appointment since June’s funding announcements. It follows the naming of Frédéric Pâques, the former scientific director for genome engineering firm Cellectis, as Global Bioenergies new chief technology officer.
