Strong results in Italy for Genomatica’s GENO BDO biobased process technology

Genomatica has strong results for its GENO BDO biobased process technology regarding overall process performance and production volume to date for bio-based 1,4-butanediol (BDO). Novamont, Genomatica’s first GENO BDO licensee, has officially confirmed that its new industrial plant in Bottrighe, Italy has met all performance guarantees committed to by Genomatica. The guarantees include technical and economic parameters, such as efficiency of converting feedstock sugars to Bio-BDO product and product quality. The process runs as designed, as modeled, and as represented.

These results are in large part due to the strong support received from Novamont. The Italian company led by Catia Bastioli successfully constructed and currently operates an energy-efficient and highly innovative flagship industrial site producing Bio-BDO.

The plant is designed to use Genomatica’s licensed process technology to produce BDO from renewable feedstocks. Following startup in late 2016 the plant operations have been notably smooth.

Genomatica also confirmed that more than 10,000 tons of Bio-BDO have been produced worldwide using its GENO BDO process. Novamont’s new Bio-BDO plant has added to volumes previously generated during production campaigns in 2012 and 2013. The earlier campaigns generated a few thousand tons and validated commercial scale performance. They helped pave the way for the first dedicated Bio-BDO plant that uses the GENO BDO licensed technology. The speed of hitting 10,000 tons represents a milestone for the industry in the biological production of widely-used intermediate chemicals.

“Our GENO BDO technology is fully de-risked and is continuously producing at scale,” said Christophe Schilling, Genomatica’s CEO. “Its reliability, attractive economics, sustainability advantages and continually-improving performance make GENO BDO a leading choice for new BDO plants. GENO BDO plants look even better given four straight quarters of increasing costs to produce petroleum-based BDO. Bio-BDO is here for brands and consumers of derivative products increasingly looking for greater sustainability and performance.”

More molecules are on the way as Genomatica develops and commercializes additional processes to produce existing and new molecules using advanced biotechnology.