SAN DIEGO and LOUDON, Tenn., February 12, 2013
Genomatica and DuPont Tate & Lyle Bio Products Company, LLC (DT&L) announced the first successful commercial-scale production of 1,4-Butanediol (BDO) using a bio-based manufacturing process. BDO is an intermediate chemical used in a wide variety of applications including athletic apparel, electronics and automotive applications. This campaign, which spanned five weeks in late 2012, produced more than five million pounds (over 2,000 metric tons) of BDO by direct fermentation using conventional sugars as feedstock. This marks the first time that BDO– with an existing worldwide market of billions of pounds per year – has been produced biologically on this scale and at this rate. This campaign was completed less than five years from when Genomatica first demonstrated the ability for a microorganism to produce BDO in 2008.
“This was a sizable commercial-scale production campaign,” said Christophe Schilling, Genomatica’s Chief Executive Officer. “Partnering with DuPont Tate & Lyle brought us biochemical process know-how at significant scale to make the leap from demonstration to commercial volumes. The success of this campaign is a significant milestone for our technology and for the biochemical industry.”
DuPont Tate & Lyle has been running its leading-edge biochemical plant in Tennessee since 2006, producing 1,3-propanediol (PDO) at commercial volumes. The collaboration with Genomatica utilized DuPont Tate & Lyle’s commercial-scale batch fermentation operation to feed the plant’s continuous downstream processing.
“Utilizing Genomatica’s developments we demonstrated the flexibility of our bioprocessing capability,” said Todd Sutton, President, DuPont Tate & Lyle Bio Products. “We congratulate the Genomatica team on the development of their BDO technology and look forward to continued collaboration.”
The accomplishments of the campaign achieved through this collaboration built on the successful demonstration-scale production of BDO previously confirmed in Decatur, IL by the teams at Genomatica and Tate & Lyle using Genomatica’s proprietary BDO process.
About Genomatica
Genomatica is a widely-acknowledged technology leader for the chemical industry. It delivers new manufacturing processes that enable its partners to produce high-volume intermediate and basic chemicals from renewable feedstocks. Genomatica’s processes are designed to achieve better economics with enhanced sustainability and a smaller environmental footprint than petroleum-based manufacturing processes. Genomatica is developing a pipeline of manufacturing processes for the production of these chemicals, and successfully achieved commercial-scale production of BDO using its process starting in November 2012, ahead of schedule. Genomatica’s accomplishments have been recognized with numerous awards, including the Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation award, ICIS Top 40 ‘Ones to Watch’, the EPA Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award, voted #1 Hottest two years in a row by Biofuels Digest, and being named a Best Place to Work by The Scientist.
About DuPont Tate & Lyle Bio Products Company, LLC
DuPont Tate & Lyle Bio Products is a joint venture between DuPont, a global science company, and Tate & Lyle, a global provider of ingredients and solutions to the food, beverage and other industries. DuPont Tate & Lyle Bio Products provides natural and renewably sourced ingredients that do not compromise product performance.