Good Monday afternoon. My colleagues in the chemical industry are monitoring the flooding situation in the Carolinas and I came across a New York Times article about the dangers of flooding in various sites in these areas not only from chemical spills but also from Superfund sites, coal ash ponds and billion gallons of manure from pig farms. So what can the biotechnology/renewable chemicals industry do to minimize these risks going forward?

Anyway, before I digress, here is an interesting news from P2 Science about the recent opening of its first manufacturing plant in Naugatuck, CT, will focus on production of renewable intermediates and ingredients for fragrances, flavors and cosmetics using feedstock such as fatty acids and terpenes.  The plant is reportedly the first of its kind in the world using a continuous ozonolysis technology.

The plant project was supported by US equity investors Elm Street Ventures, Connecticut Innovations and Ironwood Capital. Overseas Investors BASF Venture Capital of Germany and Xeraya Capital of Malaysia led the latest round of financing. The Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development also provided advantageous debt financing to support growth at the company.

P2 Science noted 15 jobs created to-date from the plant and will more than double when the plant is running at full capacity.  Overseas direct investment was around $7.5M.

I will write a more comprehensive report about P2 Science’s technology, products and partnerships in next month’s Tecnon OrbiChem Biomaterials newsletter.