Albemarle to Manufacture First Synthetic Renewable Base Oils From Amyris Biofene® for Novvi S.A.
BATON ROUGE, La., Aug. 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB), a global developer, manufacturer and marketer of highly engineered specialty chemicals, today announced it has entered into a manufacturing agreement to supply base oils to Novvi S.A., a joint venture between Amyris, Inc. and Cosan S.A. Industria e Comercio focused on the development, production, marketing and distribution of high-performance renewable base oils from Biofene®, Amyris' renewable farnesene.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20050801/ALBEMARLELOGO)
Under the terms of the agreement, Albemarle's Fine Chemistry Services (FCS) Division will serve as a custom scale-up and production partner for synthetic, renewable base oils for the lubricants market. Novvi will market NovaSpec™, the venture's synthetic renewable base oils produced at Albemarle, to finished lubricant manufacturers globally.
"Albemarle is truly excited to partner with Amyris and Novvi on this opportunity," stated Ron Gardner, Vice President of Albemarle's Fine Chemistry Global Business Unit. "Novvi's choice of Albemarle recognizes our ability to rapidly deploy our distinctive technical and manufacturing expertise."
"Novvi seeks to be a leading supplier of renewable base oils for high-performance lubricants with reduced environmental impact. Partnering with Albemarle for the scale-up and production of NovaSpec™ base oils reinforces our commitment to deliver to lubricants market the highest quality synthetic, renewable base oils," said Lineu Moran, Managing Director of Novvi S.A.
Pending regulatory activities, Albemarle expects to commence production of NovaSpec™ base oils in the near future at its Orangeburg, South Carolina facility utilizing Biofene produced and supplied by Amyris.
About Albemarle
Albemarle Corporation, headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is a leading global developer, manufacturer, and marketer of highly-engineered specialty chemicals for consumer electronics, petroleum refining, utilities, packaging, construction, automotive/transportation, pharmaceuticals, crop protection, food-safety and custom chemistry services. Albemarle is committed to global sustainability and is advancing its eco-practices and solutions in its three business segments, Polymer Solutions, Catalysts and Fine Chemistry. Corporate Responsibility Magazine selected Albemarle to its prestigious "100 Best Corporate Citizens" list for 2010 and 2011. Albemarle employs approximately 4,000 people and serves customers in approximately 100 countries. Albemarle regularly posts information to www.albemarle.com, including notification of events, news, financial performance, investor presentations and webcasts, Regulation G reconciliations, SEC filings, and other information regarding the Company, its businesses and the markets we serve.
Albemarle's Fine Chemistry Services (FCS) Division is an innovative, full-service provider of fine chemicals to the world's leading companies across the pharmaceutical, agrochemical, and specialty materials markets. Albemarle's FCS Division helps global customers complete hundreds of successful projects through a powerful combination of proven chemistry expertise, game-changing process development, high-quality custom manufacturing and exceptional service. From innovative R&D to commercial-scale production, Albemarle's FCS Division delivers the knowledge, experience, resources, creativity and service you need to move products to market faster and accelerate your business. To learn more about Albemarle's FCS Division, please visit www.albemarle.com/fcs.
About Amyris
Amyris is an integrated renewable products company focused on providing sustainable alternatives to a broad range of petroleum-sourced products. Amyris uses its industrial synthetic biology platform to convert plant sugars into a variety of hydrocarbon molecules - flexible building blocks that can be used in a wide range of products. Amyris is commercializing these products both as No Compromise® renewable ingredients in cosmetics, flavors and fragrances, polymers, lubricants and consumer products, and also as No Compromise renewable diesel and jet fuel. Amyris Brasil Ltda., a subsidiary of Amyris, oversees the establishment and expansion of Amyris's production in Brazil. Amyris also has fuel distribution capabilities in the United States through its subsidiary, Amyris Fuels, LLC. More information about Amyris is available at www.amyris.com.
About Cosan
Cosan Group is the only fully integrated player - from sugar cane production to final products distribution - in the sugar and ethanol markets in Brazil. The corporate vision is to become a global reference for clean energy and renewable products. The newly formed company Raizen (joint venture with Shell International) is one of the top five revenue companies in Brazil, has 4,500 service stations and produces 2.2 billion liters of ethanol, and is positioned to become a global market leader. Also, Cosan is one of the largest players in the retail sugar market, with an output production of 5 million metric tons, and through the use of Radar develops agricultural lands businesses. Furthermore, Cosan produces, distributes and markets the global leading lubricants brand Mobil in Brazil and controls Rumo Logistica, which is responsible for the transportation, storage and shipment of sugar and solid bulk exports at two terminals in Santos, the largest port in Latin America.
About Novvi
Novvi S.A., headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil, is an Amyris and Cosan Joint Venture, formed to develop, produce, market and distribute exclusively, on a worldwide basis, high performance renewable synthetic base oils derived from Biofene. NovaSpec replaces certain petroleum-derived products and enables lubricants industry to formulate high end technology products with superior environmental performance. Novvi base oils will be manufactured in United States of America and will be globally available.
Amyris, Biofene and No Compromise are trademarks or registered trademarks of Amyris, Inc.
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding Albemarle Corporation's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K.
SOURCE Albemarle Corporation
WANT YOUR COMPANY'S NEWS FEATURED ON PRNEWSWIRE.COM?
Newsrooms &
Influencers
Digital Media
Outlets
Journalists
Opted In
Share this article