Attending BIO World Congress is, as usual, a whirlwind of meetings and presentations galore. There were several big announcements that came out yesterday and here are some of them. For more news at BIO, follow #BIOWC15 on twitter.
Cargill and Genomatica Partnership – the companies announced their collaboration to accelerate production of renewable chemicals for industrial applications. The collaboration will give chemical producers, distributors and users access to a reliable, cost-effective source of carbohydrate feedstocks, co-location support services and production partnerships, based on Genomatica’s GENO™ process technologies.
The companies will co-market Cargill’s feedstock and production services to current and prospective Genomatica licensees, and chemical users and distributors. Cargill also made an equity investment in Genomatica and secured rights to make additional investments.
GFBiochemicals starts levulinic acid production – GFBiochemicals started commercial production at its 10 ktpa levulinic acid plant in Caserta, Italy. The company claimed to be the first company to produce levulinic acid at commercial-scale directly from biomass. A lower price range for levulinic acid is now possible, according to the company.
Liquid Light partners with Coca-Cola – Liquid Light has signed a technology development agreement with the Coca-Cola Company to accelerate the development of Liquid Light’s CO2-based MEG (monoethylene glycol). The company claims their technology can potentially reduce the environmental footprint and the cost of producing MEG ( one of the chemical components required for producing PET bottles).
FedEx partners with Red Rock for bio-jet fuel – Biofuel producer Red Rock announced that it will produce approximately 3m gal/year of low-carbon, renewable jet fuel for FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. The agreement runs through 2024, with first delivery expected in 2017. FedEx joins Southwest Airlines in purchasing Red Rock’s total available volume of jet fuel. Red Rock’s first refinery, funded in part by a $70 million Title III DPA grant from the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Energy and Navy, is scheduled to break ground this fall in Lakeview, Ore. and will convert approximately 140,000 dry tons of woody biomass into 15m gal/year of renewable jet, diesel and naphtha fuels.
Glucan Biorenewables wins Soffinova Start-Up Award – Sofinnova Partners, a renewable chemistry venture capital firm, has announced that Glucan Biorenewables is the winner of the prestigious Renewable Chemistry Start-Up Award. Following a public vote with almost 8,000 votes cast, the Top-5 companies were shortlisted. These companies then presented yesterday to a jury of industry experts at the BIO World Congress in Montreal.
