Genomatica acquires REG Life Sciences’ assets to meet increasing demand for sustainable products

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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.
- “Renewable Energy Group completes sale of reg life sciences' assets to genomatica”, 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.

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