Johnson Matthey and Rennovia announce licence agreement with ADM for glucaric acid production technology

Johnson Matthey, a global specialty chemicals company and provider of advanced process technologies, and Rennovia Inc., a privately held company that develops novel catalysts and processes for the cost advantaged production of chemical products from renewable feedstocks.

They have signed a licence agreement with Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) to provide catalyst and process technology for catalytic production of bio-based glucaric acid.

The licensed process, jointly developed between Johnson Matthey and Rennovia, combines the efficiency and selectivity of heterogeneous catalytic process technology with the use of renewable feed stocks to produce bio-based glucaric acid.

Glucaric acid is an emerging platform chemical which has a wide range of applications in detergents and cleaners, concrete formulations, de-icing and anti-corrosion markets.

David Prest, Director of Business Development for Johnson Matthey’s Process Technologies Division said: “We are proud to announce the licensing of this new and innovative technology to ADM, and we are excited about the future of this technology, which draws upon the fundamental process and catalyst development expertise within Johnson Matthey. This achievement also demonstrates the value of a strong collaborative approach, working together with Rennovia to commercialise a process for bio-based chemicals.”

“ADM continues to work toward commercialisation of glucaric acid as a higher value product within our portfolio of bio-based performance chemicals,” said Kevin Moore, President of Renewable Chemicals for ADM. “We see a strong synergy in leveraging Rennovia’s breakthrough catalyst technology along with the process scale-up capabilities of Johnson Matthey to shorten the time frame needed to bring this new product to market for our customers.”

“We are delighted that ADM has decided to license glucaric acid technology from Rennovia and Johnson Matthey,” said Robert Wedinger, President and CEO of Rennovia. “It demonstrates the commitment of an industry leader and a key partner of Rennovia. We look forward to working even closer together to commercialise our innovative process for the production of cost advantaged glucaric acid.”