 "Bill Gates")
Renmatix, the producer of affordable building blocks (cellulosic sugars) for the bio-economy, has secured $ 14 million investment from Bill Gates and Total, the global energy major.
Industry demand for competitive alternatives to petro-derived molecules is gaining traction, despite recent market pressures. In the interest of expanding that supply, the Plantrose process provides an enabling technology for profitable bio-refineries. This investment in commercialising Plantrose will help drive towards the first wave of Renmatix licensees building Plantrose-enabled bio-refineries in diverse global markets like Canada, India, Malaysia, the US and elsewhere. In parallel, that activity will facilitate further market development in downstream bio-product applications.
Bill Gates commented, “To effectively address climate change, we need to develop an energy infrastructure that does not emit greenhouse gas and is cost competitive. A critical component in this effort must be to decarbonise the industrial sector. Another is the possibility of cost competitive biofuels. Renmatix provides an innovative process that is an exciting pathway to pursue.”
Gates is joined in the round by Total, which after an initial investment in 2015, has expanded its investment and has additionally signed a licensing agreement with Renmatix for 1 million tonnes of annual cellulosic sugar production capacity, at Total's discretion to build corresponding facilities. The license represents significant revenue potential for Renmatix, extending over the lifetime of the agreement.
“At Total, our ambition is to become the responsible energy major. We want to make low-carbon businesses a profitable growth driver accounting for 20 percent of our portfolio in 20 years’ time. Meeting these goals is what has led to setting-up and expanding our collaboration with Renmatix,” said Patrick Pouyanne, chairman and CEO of Total.
The patented Plantrose process uses supercritical water to reduce costs in conversion of biomass to cellulosic sugars, the critical intermediary for second-generation bio-chemicals and biofuels. With faster reactions and virtually no associated consumable-expenses, Renmatix’s supercritical hydrolysis economically enables a multitude of renewable process technologies to access the market for ‘high-volume, low-cost, broadly sourced’ cellulosic sugars that is compounding today. From this well-established foundation in industrial sugars, the company continues to expand its product portfolio by valorising additional bio building block intermediates, including Omno polymers and crystalline cellulose.
Mike Hamilton, CEO, Renmatix, said, “While we are working with partners to capitalise on the vast opportunity for bio-based transformation in markets as diverse as the US and India, this investment from Gates and Total together – shows recognition of our technological achievements, and magnifies our commercial momentum. That acknowledgment and Total’s signing of the million-tonne license, are compelling indicators of our Plantrose technology’s maturation towards bio-refinery scale.”
Renmatix is the leading technology licensor for the conversion of biomass into cellulosic sugar, an enabling feedstock for petroleum alternatives used in the global biochemical and biofuels markets. The company's proprietary Plantrose process challenges conventional sugar economics by cheaply converting cellulosic biomass – from wood waste to agricultural residue – into useful, cost-effective Plantro sugars and additional bio building blocks. Plantrose supercritical hydrolysis technology deconstructs non-food biomass an order of magnitude faster than other processes, and enhances its cost advantage by using no significant consumables. Renmatix is privately held, with a technical centre in Pennsylvania and production operations at the Integrated Plantrose Complex (IPC) in Georgia.
