Vertichem Corporation announced today an agreement in principle to acquire a 100% interest in Thesis Chemistry LLC, an Ohio, US headquartered company with operations in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada.
Vertichem is an innovative greentech company currently commercializing its patented processes to produce a portfolio of green platform chemicals, including high quality lignin, xylose and cellulose from woody biomass, agricultural residues and grasses.
Thesis Chemistry is currently commercializing its technology platform for the production of vanillin (the active component of vanilla flavoring) and aromatic aldehydes (used in flavors, fragrances, dyes, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and other chemicals) from plant lignin. The company is also developing more advanced biorefining technologies to convert lignin into phenols, cresols, BTX and fuels.
“The acquisition of Thesis Chemistry enables Vertichem to become one of the only companies globally developing a vertically integrated biorefining model to convert sustainable plant biomass into green chemicals and fuels,” said David Milroy, Vertichem’s Chairman and Chief Executive. “The combination of Vertichem’s patented biomass fractionation capabilities with Thesis Chemistry’s deep-conversion biorefining technologies allows us to extract the maximum value from biomass. We can produce numerous green intermediate chemicals and end products that are identical to their petroleum-based counterparts.”
“Vertichem’s technology provides the perfect complement to allow us to commercialize the science and processing of lignin into high value products which our scientists have been developing in our Cambridge, Ontario facility,” said Dr. John Peterson, Founder and CTO of Thesis Chemistry. “We found Vertichem’s lignin to be superior to all other lignins we have tested from around the globe for producing a slate of very valuable products using Thesis Chemistry’s technology. We look forward to working with Vertichem and developing additional high value products from Vertichem’s xylose and cellulose intermediates.”
The acquisition remains subject to approval by the shareholders of Vertichem and the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
About Vertichem
Vertichem is an innovative green specialty chemicals company that holds patents for the breakthrough Vertichem® process that converts low-value woody biomass, agricultural residues and grasses into high-value green specialty chemicals. It produces environmentally friendly chemicals that are sold to the industrial, commercial, food, consumer goods and pharmaceutical markets, helping them to green their products and achieve new sustainability goals for their business.
About Thesis Chemistry
Thesis Chemistry is a leader in developing innovative, green technologies for cost-effective and environmentally-responsible manufacturing of biobased chemicals from non-food forest and agricultural biomass. Approximately 95% of all chemicals manufactured today are derived from petroleum. Since 2007, Thesis Chemistry has invested in the development of cutting-edge, differentiating technologies that allow the unprecedented transformation of lignocellulosic biomass into green chemicals.
Source
Thesis Chemistry, press release, 2012-05-14.
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