Newlight Signs 20-Year Contract for 19 Billion Pounds of AirCarbon PHA

LOS ANGELES, July 10, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Newlight Technologies (http://www.newlight.com), a biotechnology company using an advanced biological carbon capture technology to produce sustainable materials, announced today that it has signed a take-or-pay off-take agreement with Vinmar International Ltd (http://www.vinmar.com).  Under the terms of the 20-year master off-take agreement, Vinmar will initially purchase and Newlight will sell 1 billion pounds of AirCarbon PHA.

The Vinmar contract provides for the sale of 100% of AirCarbon PHA from Newlight's planned 50 million pound per year production facility for 20 years.  The contract will also cover 100% of the output from a 300 million pound per year AirCarbon production facility and a 600 million pound per year AirCarbon production facility for a total of up to 19 billion pounds over 20 years.

AirCarbon is a PHA-based thermoplastic made from greenhouse gas that is used and being developed for use in a wide range of products, including films, caps and closures, furniture, electronics accessories, bottles and other applications. 

Newlight produces AirCarbon by combining a breakthrough high-yield biocatalyst with air and captured methane-based greenhouse gas emissions to produce a bio-based AirCarbon thermoplastic material that is cost competitive with petroleum-derived thermoplastics.  

"This contract launches AirCarbon to world-scale volume, and sets Newlight on a path to accomplishing its founding goal of changing how the world makes materials, by harnessing greenhouse gas as a resource," said Mark Herrema, Newlight CEO and Co-Founder, "With this agreement, we are poised to participate in the growing demand for sustainable materials with a material made by capturing carbon that would otherwise become part of the air."

"Vinmar is excited to be a part of the growth and development of Newlight's AirCarbon PHA," said Kartik Mehta, a senior executive of Vinmar.  "Our long-term off-take contract with Newlight reflects the potential we see for AirCarbon. Demand for plastics will continue to grow globally and AirCarbon addresses an important need in the market.   We believe Newlight's advanced high-yield technology, unique cost structure, and commercial-scale operations position AirCarbon to effectively compete in the market on price and performance, allowing us to market AirCarbon PHA to a broad range of customers," he added. 

Vinmar International is a leading marketer and distributor of chemicals with sales of over $4.5 billion in 2014 and annual volumes that exceeded 6.5 billion pounds of petrochemicals.  With over 450 staff in 35 countries, Vinmar possesses the global presence and experience needed to cost effectively accelerate development of the growing market for AirCarbon.  This in turn will allow Newlight's commercial team to focus on production capacity expansion, high margin derivatives, key accounts, and joint technology and application development.

About Newlight

Newlight Technologies is a sustainable materials company using carbon capture technology to produce high-performance materials that replace oil-based materials on a market-driven basis.  Newlight was founded in 2003 with a question: why can't we use greenhouse gas emissions as a resource to make materials?  Over the course of 10 years of research and development, Newlight developed a breakthrough biotechnological process to produce a material called AirCarbon®: a high performance long chain thermoplastic polymer made by combining air and methane-based carbon emissions that is able to match the performance of a range of oil-based plastics while out-competing on price, thereby creating a market-driven solution to displacing fossil fuels and capturing carbon.  Today, Newlight is operating the world's first commercial-scale greenhouse gas-to-AirCarbon manufacturing facility, using air and biogas to produce materials used in the production of film packaging, rigid furniture, electronics accessories, caps, and a variety of other products.  Following commercialization in 2013, AirCarbon was named "Biomaterial of the Year" by the Nova Institute in 2013, "one of the 100 most technologically significant innovations of the year" by R&D Magazine in 2013, and 2014 "Innovation of the Year" by Popular Science. 

About Vinmar

Vinmar International Ltd is a privately held plastics and chemicals marketing, distribution and project development company headquartered in Houston, Texas.  Over the past 35 years Vinmar has grown to over 450 employees in 35 countries, with sales in excess of 3 million metric tons consisting of plastics and chemicals, and generating revenues of over US$4.5 Billion in 2014.  Vinmar is part of the Goradia Group of Companies that also includes Goradia Capital, which acquires and operates chemical manufacturing plants and has participation in grass-roots chemical projects.

CONTACT: www.newlight.com

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SOURCE Newlight Technologies