Origin starts commercial production of bio-based carbon materials

West Sacramento, California – Origin Materials, a US start-up producing carbon products from wood residue, has commenced commercial production at its facility in Ontario, Canada.

Origin 1, located in Sarnia, will use the company’s core-technology platform to produce chemical intermediates hydrothermal carbon (HTC) and chloromethyl furfural (CMF) as well as oils and “extractives”.

The platform converts C6 cellulose into four isolated building-block chemicals, in one chemo-catalytic step with "almost zero carbon loss", according to Origin.

CMF is used to manufacture plant-based polyester, by converting the chloromethyl furfural into para-xylene, an intermediate feedstock for production of PET.

“Origin 1 proves our technology’s scalability and brings online an important manufacturing capability,” Origin co-founder and co-CEO John Bissell, said 11 Oct.

The plant, Bissel added, will help the company meet growing demand for its technology and products as the world “moves aggressively to a zero-carbon future”.

Origin believes its ‘carbon-negative’ process can improve the performance of end-products, including carbon black for tires, bio-based textiles and packaging.

In April, Hyosung Advanced Materials announced a deal with Origin concerning the production of 'carbon-negative' PET tire cord and other industrial textiles (ERJ report).