AMYRIS : Amyris's First Commercial Production Facility Complete and Operational
04/29/2011| 08:05am US/Eastern
Recommend:
Amyris, Inc., (NASDAQ:AMRS), a renewable chemicals and fuels company,
today announced the completion of the first industrial-scale facility
for the production of Biofene?, Amyris's renewable farnesene. The
production facility is located in Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil at a
facility owned by Biomin do Brasil Nutri?ão Animal Ltda., a company
focusing on animal nutrition. Amyris will operate the production
facility and expects to begin Biofene production in May. To produce
Biofene, Amyris feeds sugar cane syrup into three dedicated 200,000
liter fermentors containing Amyris proprietary yeast. The yeast digest
the syrup feedstock and produce farnesene, which is then separated and
purified. Biofene may then be sold directly into industrial applications
or put through simple chemical finishing steps to form a broad range of
renewable products including squalane, base oil and finished lubricants
and diesel.
To achieve production at full industrial scale, Amyris has developed an
integrated scale-up process which connects ongoing advances in Amyris
research with industrial-scale production. By miniaturizing process
conditions found in production-scale fermentors, Amyris has been able to
translate yeast performance successfully from discovery to production.
Amyris further controls scale-up by testing performance in its pilot
plant in Emeryville, Calif., followed by vetting in a second pilot plant
and a demonstration facility in Amyris's operations in Campinas, Brazil.
Earlier this year, Amyris tested its yeast strains and process in
several runs at 100,000 and 200,000 liter scale and generated results
that were consistent with previous runs at smaller scale.
"The completion of our first Biofene production facility is a landmark
not only for Amyris but also for the renewable products sector," said
John Melo, CEO of Amyris. "With this milestone, we are demonstrating
that engineered yeast may be used to produce high-value hydrocarbon
molecules on a commercial scale. This achievement reinforces our goal of
providing No Compromise® renewable alternatives to petroleum to
transform the chemicals industry, extend the world's fuel supply and
contribute to the betterment of our environment."
Amyris is scaling its production through contract agreements with
manufacturers located in Brazil, Europe and the United States, and has
five production agreements in place including contract agreements with
Antibioticós S.A., Biomin, Paraíso Bioenergia S.A., Tate & Lyle
Ingredients Americas, Inc., an affiliate of Tate & Lyle PLC, and a joint
venture with Usina São Martinho S.A., one of the largest sugar and
ethanol producers in Brazil. Amyris has also established finishing
capabilities with Glycotech, Inc.
About Amyris, Inc.
Amyris
is an integrated renewable products company focused on providing
sustainable alternatives to a broad range of petroleum-sourced products.
Amyris uses its industrial
synthetic biology platform to convert plant sugars into a variety of
hydrocarbon molecules - flexible building blocks which can be used in a
wide range of products. Amyris is commercializing these products both as
No Compromise® renewable ingredients in cosmetics, flavors and
fragrances, polymers, lubricants and consumer products, and also as No
Compromise renewable diesel and jet fuel. Amyris Brasil S.A., a wholly
owned subsidiary, has over 100 employees based in Campinas, Brazil and
oversees Amyris's production and commercialization in Brazil. Amyris
also has fuel distribution capabilities in the United States through its
subsidiary, Amyris Fuels LLC. More information about Amyris is available
at www.amyris.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements, and any statements
other than statements of historical facts could be deemed to be
forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include,
among other things, statements regarding future events (such as
statements regarding commercial-scale production and commercialization
and anticipated benefits of our products) that involve risks and
uncertainties. These statements are based on management's current
expectations and actual results and future events may differ materially
due to risks and uncertainties, including those associated with any
delays or failures in development, production or commercialization of
products, our reliance on third parties to achieve our goals, and other
risks detailed in the "Risk Factors" section of Amyris's annual report
on Form 10-K filed on March 14, 2011. Amyris disclaims any obligation to
update information contained in these forward-looking statements whether
as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
Amyris, Biofene and No Compromise are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Amyris, Inc.
Schwartz Communications
Merrill Freund or Alison Mickey,
415-817-2557
amyris@schwartzcomm.com
© Business Wire 2011
Recommend :
