BASF Participates in US American Technology Company Renmatix

PHILADELPHIA and LUDWIGSHAFEN, Germany, Jan. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

• BASF led a $50 million financing round
• BASF share of investment is $30 million
• Renmatix's patented Plantrose™ technology allows manufacture of sugar from wood biomass

BASF is participating with $30 million through BASF Biorenewable Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG in the American technology firm Renmatix Inc. The BASF subsidiary led a $50 million financing round, joined by new and existing investors.

The technology company Renmatix has developed the Plantrose™ platform. With this patented process, industrial sugar can be produced from lignocellulosic biomass (wood, cane trash or straw). This technology makes it possible for the first time to produce industrial sugar in large quantities and at competitive cost from non-edible plant mass. "The Plantrose technology could allow us in the future to broaden our use of renewable raw materials while improving the cost effectiveness of our value chains even further. In the partnership with Renmatix, BASF is pursuing a new direction while simultaneously underlining its corporate strategy of offering even more sustainable solutions," said Dr. Josef R. Wunsch, Senior Vice President Modelling, Formulation Research and Technology Incubation at BASF.

In the Plantrose technology, biomass is split into cellulose and sugar in supercritical water at high temperature and pressure in a two-step process. Since the Plantrose technology utilizes non-edible biomass as feedstock, it is not in competition with feed and food production. "Thanks to the partnership with BASF we can now develop and commercialize our technology more efficient. We have already demonstrated the functionality of the Plantrose process in a pilot plant. In cooperation with BASF, we will be moving it to the industrial scale," said Mike Hamilton, Chief Executive Officer at Renmatix.

Industrial sugars are important renewable resources for the chemical industry and can be used, for example, to produce biofuels or basic chemical products and intermediates by fermentative processes. The availability of industrial sugars in sufficient quantities and at favorable cost is therefore important for the competitiveness of the products.

About Renmatix

Renmatix is the leading producer of cellulosic sugars for the global renewable chemical and fuels markets. The company's proprietary Plantrose™ process challenges conventional sugar economics by cheaply converting biomass – from woody biomass to agricultural residue – into useful, cost-effective sugars. Renmatix's 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 operations in Georgia (USA) currently capable of converting three dry tons of cellulosic biomass to sugar per day. For more information, please visit www.renmatix.com.

About BASF

BASF is the world's leading chemical company: The Chemical Company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and agricultural products to oil and gas. As a reliable partner BASF creates chemistry to help its customers in virtually all industries to be more successful. With its high-value products and intelligent solutions, BASF plays an important role in finding answers to global challenges such as climate protection, energy efficiency, nutrition and mobility. BASF posted sales of about euro 63.9 billion in 2010 and had approximately 109,000 employees as of the end of the year. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN). Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at www.basf.com or in its Social Media Newsroom at newsroom.basf.com.

Press contacts:

BASF
Corporate Media Relations:
Holger Kapp
Phone: +49 621 60-40410
[email protected]

Renmatix
Katie Struble
Phone:  +1-415-977-1928
[email protected]

SOURCE Renmatix