GS Caltex Corporation
August 2012
R&D Center
GS Caltex Corporation
KOREA
GS Caltex Overview
The first private oil company in Korea as a JV between GS Holdings & Chevron in 1967
Chairman & CEO : Dong-Soo Hur, Ph.D.
Sales revenue(2011) : USD 42 billion / Operating Profit(2011) : USD 1.8 billion
Implemented energy business diversification and vertical integration
50%
50%
Chevron
Caltex
Refining & Marketing
Petrochemicals
Lubricants
Subsidiaries &
Affiliates
Upstream
More than 10 companies
for Power Supply, City gas,
& New & Renewable Business,
etc.
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Introduction of R&D Center
Vision : Leading the future with global outstanding technology
R&D pursuits at GS Caltex cover future-oriented new businesses such as new energy sources,
high-efficiency energy devices and advanced materials as well as the traditional fields of oil
refining and petrochemicals
Boasting state-of-the-art equipment and high-caliber R&D staff, the R&D Center explores
new businesses through ongoing research to drive the future growth of GS Caltex
Energy
Source
• Solar Cell
• Biofuel
Advanced
Material
• Biochemical
materials
• Carbon fiber
Energy
Device
• Thin-film Battery
• Electrode material
for rechargeable
batteries
• Carbon material
for EDLC
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Green
Solution
• Hydrogen/fuel cell
• Waste-to-energy
• Charging
infrastructure for
electric vehicles
Petroleum &
Petrochemicals
• Petroleum product
• Lubricant product
• Petrochemical
product, etc.
Bio Business of GS Caltex
Commercial production of biodiesel and investigation of a new bio-project by various
R&D activities
Bio Business and Projects
Energy
 Biofuel for Diesel
- Mandatory use of biodiesel from 2012 in South Korea
- GS Bio, our subsidiary company currently producing biodiesel (Capa. : 100,000 ton/yr) at
Yeosu refinery complex in South Korea
 Biofuel for Gasoline
- Biobutanol process development in accordance with future governmental policy
Chemicals
 Biopolymers
- Development of renewable or biodegradable polymers using bio-based intermediates
production (Nylon 4, PTT, etc)
 Value added chemicals
- 2,3-Butanediol production from biomass and development of its derivatives (e.g.
butadiene)
- Finding new application of crude glycerin, a by-product from biodiesel production
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Bio Strategy and Activities
Bio-Strategy
 Support and Supplement for existing oil and petrochemical industry with bio-based energy and
products
 Transformation of low-value by-products(or wastes) into high value added products
 Pre-emptive response to government policy
Open Innovation
 Strategy for strong buildup of technical value chain and timely, effective development
 Global network utilization including university, research institute, company, etc
 Collaboration with feedstock suppliers, plant owners for renovation needs, and people who are
interested in commercial co-production and joint marketing
Main Activities
 Core technologies development such as strain, fermentation, separation, and pretreatment
 Integrated process optimization of core technologies
 Process design and engineering for commercial scale up
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What is Biobutanol?
Biobutanol is a valuable product as chemical and fuel
 Substitute for petroleum based butanol
 An advanced biofuel that has many benefits over ethanol
As transport fuel
 High Energy Density
 Low Water Solubility
 Low Corrosive
Biobutanol
 Low Vapor Pressure
Issue of biobutanol commercialization
 Low final butanol concentration ( < 20 g/L)
 Low butanol productivity ( < 0.5 g/L/hr) due to low cell density
 Low yield of butanol due to hetero-fermentation (0.28~0.33 g/g)
 High cost of butanol recovery from low-concentration yields
GS Caltex develops proprietary bacteria and process for biobutanol production!!
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Biobutanol Development-Microbe
Strain Development
 Key success factor to increase production performance such as yield, titer, productivity, and selectivity
 Eliminating co-production pathway of acetone and ethanol (approx. 40% of final products)
 Various types of genetically modified strains with breakthrough performance secured
 Ready for the commercial production of biobutanol
Glucose
Functional
pathway
Cofactor
balanced
Co-products
eliminated
High yield
High rate
Acetate
X
Ethanol
Ethanol
High titer
Low byproducts
Acetone
Butyrate
X
X
Butanol
GS Caltex’s biocatalysts are microorganisms that have been designed to metabolize various
sugars to produce biobutanol
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Biobutanol Development-Process
Process Development
 Continuous fermentation process using in-situ butanol recovery with high yield and productivity
 Our technologies are at a world-leading level : high performance microbe, high productive bioreactor
and separation process with low energy consumption
 For energy saving, dehydration process is ideally combined with membrane and distillation
 Integrated process and optimization could be developed by simulation techniques and engineering
know-how
 Basic design for commercial biobutanol plant is almost completed
Patent
 More than a dozen of patents and patent applications for the innovative biobutanol process
Process Engineering
Fermentation
Separation System
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Biobutanol Pilot Plant
Our Pilot Plant
 Capacity : 30,000 L/yr or above
 Fully integrated system : fermentation, butanol recovery,
water separation and products purification equipments
 Location : R&D Center of GS Caltex, Daejeon-city, South
Korea
 Funded from a Korea government
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Lignocellulosic Biomass Utilization
Development progress for utilizing 2nd generation biomass
 Overcome the ethical concerns of food (1st generation biomass) as fuel
 Reducing the production cost of biofuel and biochemical in the near future
 Conducting a research on applications of various types of biomass to produce biomaterials and coworking with SUDOKWON Landfill Site (capital region of Korea) Management Corp (waste wood)
Pretreatment issues for cellulosic biomass
 Considering a variety of pretreatment technologies such as acid,
base, and enzyme
 Reviewing process for low operating costs and capital expenses,
as well as high yield of hydrolysis
Pretreatment
Dilute acid, Base,
Enzyme, etc
Solid sugar
or Sugar syrup
Lignocellulosic
materials
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Construction waste wood sorting facilities
(SLC, Korea)
2,3-Butanediol Development
What is 2,3-Butanediol?
• One of the constitutional isomers of butanediol, catalyzing to Butadiene and MEK (methyl ethyl ketone)
• Produced by microbial fermentation from various biomass, including molasses, starch, lignocellulosic
materials, and crude glycerol
Our status for 2,3-Butanediol
• New robust genetically engineered strains, producing 2,3-Butanediol as similar levels of ethanol with
respect to titer, yield and productivity
• A novel and effective 2,3-Butanediol recovery process using solvent extraction
• A novel dehydrating process from 2,3-Butanediol to Butadiene and MEK using self-developed catalyst
O
Fermentation
Catalytic process
MEK
1,3-Butadiene
2-Butene
Biomass
2,3-Butanediol
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