Genomatica acquires REG Life Sciences’ assets to meet increasing demand for sustainable products
Type of post: NEWS.
Interesting movement in the biobased chemicals
sector. Renewable Energy Group, Inc. (REG) has
completed the sale of substantially all assets of REG Life Sciences’ to Genomatica on May 29, 2019. The deal
allows the technology to develop with a new owner while REG retains the
opportunity to participate in its successful commercialization in the future. The
core group of REG LS team members will join Genomatica at its San Diego
Innovation Center to continue driving the platform.
Press releases:
- “Genomatica
Acquires REG Life Sciences’ Assets”, 6/6/2019.
REG acquired the Life Sciences business in
2014. Since then, the team has successfully advanced the technology development
and has forged a key strategic partnership with Exxon Mobil and Clariant. Genomatica
will continue to work with them to progress the research program for advanced
biofuels from biomass started at REG LS. The selected assets include technology
for making drop-in long-chain chemicals and various novel and proprietary
products being researched and/or under development. In this way, the Californian
company is adding over 550 active patents and applications to bring its portfolio
to over 1,500 offerings.
Related post: “Clariant,
ExxonMobil and REG forge a partnership to develop cellulosic biodiesel
technology”, 28/1/2019.
Figure 1. Genomatica’s product platforms (taken
from the press release of Genomatica)
The new assets will be the third major product
platform of Genomatica:
- Existing “C4” platform. It has already
delivered commercial products for biobased 1,4-butanediol (used for biodegradable
plastics and apparel) and for butylene glycol (cosmetics and personal care).
- Existing “C6” platform. There are numerous
chemicals under development including bio-based caprolactam (to make 100%
renewable nylon, for apparel and carpet).
- New “long-chain” platform. The compounds
range from 8 to 18 carbon atoms in length and may contain multiple functional
groups, resulting in long-chain alcohols, esters, acids, ketones, aldehydes,
alkanes, amines, amides and branched products. These chemicals are widely used
to make products such as surfactants, cosmetics, solvents, polymers, fuels and
food ingredients. They are broadly referred to as oleochemicals as they are
typically derived from vegetable oils or animal fats, or synthetically from
fossil feedstocks. Genomatica’s approach of making them via fermentation of biomass-based
feedstocks is more sustainable and environmentally friendly and provides new
functional attributes.
