Little information is yet available on the economic viability of the production of bio-based bulk chemicals and intermediates from white biotechnology (WB). This paper details a methodology to systematically evaluate the techno-economic prospects of present and future production routes of bio-based bulk chemicals produced with WB. Current and future technology routes are evaluated for 15 products assuming prices of fermentable sugar between 70 ie/t and 400 ie/t and crude oil prices of US 25/barrelandUS50/barrel. The results are compared to current technology routes of petrochemical equivalents. For current state-of-the-art WB processes and a crude oil price of US 25/barrel,WB−basedethanol,1,3−propanediol,polytrimethyleneterephthalateandsuccinicacidareeconomicallyviable.OnlythreeWBproductsareeconomicallynotviableforfuturetechnology:aceticacid,ethyleneandPLA.Future−technologyethyleneandPLAbecomeeconomicallyviableforahighercrudeoilprice(US50/barrel). Production costs plus profits of WB products decrease by 20–50% when changing from current to future technology for a crude oil price of US $25 per barrel and across all sugar prices. Technological progress in WB can thus contribute significantly to improved economic viability of WB products. A large-scale introduction of WB-based production of economically viable bulk chemicals would therefore be desirable if the environmental impacts are smaller than those of current petrochemical production routes
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