Renmatix Reveals Supercritical Hydrolysis as Lowest-Cost Pathway to Cellulosic Sugar

(PR Newswire/Renmatix) Kleiner Perkins' John Doerr, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett, and Amyris CEO John Melo laud company's novel use of super critical water

Renmatix, the leading producer of cellulosic sugars, today unveiled the Plantrose™ process, the company's commercial approach to producing sugars more cheaply than ever before. Access to non-food derived low-cost industrial sugars, the foundation of the emerging bioindustrial economy, will trigger a dramatic shift from petroleum-based fuels and chemicals to cost-effective biobased alternatives.

At Renmatix's demonstration facility in Kennesaw, Georgia, the company has already scaled its process to convert three dry tons of woody biomass to sugars daily. To further support the company's growth plans, Renmatix is commencing technical and business operations in King of Prussia, located in Pennsylvania's burgeoning hub of innovation.

The unveiling of Renmatix's Plantrose™ process was framed by today's roundtable of industry leaders, moderated by legendary investor John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB). Roundtable participants discussed the growing importance of industrial sugars across the global economy and how Renmatix's technology is posed to disrupt the industry status quo.

Plantrose™ and Supercritical Hydrolysis Renmatix's Plantrose™ process is the first to break down cellulose at industrial scale through supercritical hydrolysis, which utilizes water at elevated temperatures and pressures to quickly solubilize cellulose. The supercritical state of matter has long been utilized in industrial processes including coffee decaffeination and pharmaceutical applications.

Before the arrival of the Plantrose process, supercritical water had never successfully yielded sugar from biomass at significant scale. The process breaks down a wide range of non-food biomass in seconds, uses no significant consumables and produces much of its own process energy. Current methods of breaking down biomass require expensive enzymes or harsh chemicals, and can take up to three days to yield sugars. With its water-based approach, Renmatix is able to provide cellulosic sugar affordably and on large-scale.

"Sugar has game-changing potential for the bio-based fuels and chemicals market," said John Doerr, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Renmatix board member. "The Renmatix breakthrough enables access to affordable non-food based sugar on an industrial scale."

Doerr, who earned his reputation with early investments in Amazon, Google, Sun Microsystems and other tech giants, led today's discussion on the role of sugar in scaling bio-based fuels and chemicals. The panel comprised a broad representation of bioindustry leaders: Paul Bryan, head of the Department of Energy's Biomass Program; John Melo, CEO of Amyris, a synthetic biology company working to reduce the cost of lower carbon, second generation, biofuels and chemicals; and DuPont's industrial biosciences strategy leader, Vik Prabhu. An intimate group of bioindustry peers joined Renmatix, Governor Tom Corbett and local Pennsylvania partners for the roundtable discussion and technology reveal.

"In the twentieth century, petroleum was the basis for making materials, chemicals and fuels. In the twenty-first century, sugar is replacing petroleum as the raw material for those industries," said Mike Hamilton, CEO of Renmatix. "Renmatix will provide those sugars faster and cheaper than anyone else, and our move to the Greater Philadelphia area will enables us to attract the talented material science and engineering talent we'll need to scale rapidly."

"Renmatix is placing its headquarters here in King of Prussia because of the talent that exists in this part of Pennsylvania. My administration is helping them to accomplish this through careful investment and enthusiastic assistance," said Corbett. "In Pennsylvania we are encouraging innovation at all levels and are poised to grow new jobs as companies like Renmatix come here, stay here and succeed here." READ MORE and MORE (Biofuels Digest) and MORE (New York Times) and MORE (Biorefining Magazine) WATCH Video