Myriant & JM Davy Successfully Produce Bio-based BDO & THF

Quincy, MA and London, England -- Myriant Corporation (Myriant) a global renewable chemicals company, and Johnson Matthey - Davy Technologies (JM Davy) a leading chemical technology licensing company, announced the successful production of bio-butanediol (BDO) and tetrahydrofuran (THF) made from Myriants bio-succinic acid. The qualification work was conducted at JM Davys facility at Teesside, England using bio-succinic acid supplied by Myriant and the JM Davy BDO/THF process. Combining the efficiencies of Myriants bio-succinic acid process and the JM Davy BDO/THF process, the bio-butanediol and bio tetrahydrofuran has an overall carbon efficiency of 87%, believed to be substantially better than the carbon efficiency achieved in the direct fermentation route to bio-butanediol.

"The recent developments that JM Davy and Myriant have been able to achieve together are clear milestones in our overall strategy to bring renewable products to the market," said Antoine Bordet, Managing Director, at JM Davy. "We have provided process technologies based on petroleum feedstocks to the BDO and THF markets globally for 25 years and understand what it takes to be competitive from a cost and quality point of view.

The JM Davy BDO/THF technology, which has undergone significant improvements over the past 10 years, can now be offered with process and performance guarantees to produce commercial grade bio-butanediol, tetrahydrofuran and gamma-butyrolactone equivalent to the petrochemical material that is currently produced in commercial plants, from Myriants bio-succinic acid at a competitive cost level."

"With this most recent success at Teesside, Myriant has proved that we are able to produce succinic acid suitable for the production of commercial grade bio-butanediol," commented Cenan Ozmeral, Ph.D., Myriants Chief Operating Officer. "Our bio-butanediol offers superior carbon efficiency that will enable our customers to reduce their overall carbon footprint. Achieving this success is another major step towards advancing Myriants commercialization strategy for bio-succinic acid and its derivatives, and, it is significant because it provides us immediate entrance into a large market with JM Davy, the global leader in BDO/THF process technology."

JM Davy, a global leader in esterification and hydrogenation technology, has licensed 800,000 MT/year of annual capacity for the production of butanediol, tetrahydrofuran and gamma-butyrolactone representing approximately 25% of the global installed capacity.

Myriants flagship bio-succinic acid plant in Lake Providence, Louisiana, is currently being commissioned and it is the largest bio-succinic acid plant in the world.

About Myriant

Myriant utilizes its proprietary technology platform to develop innovative, performance-based, renewable chemicals utilizing low-cost sugars. In December 2010, Myriant broke ground on its flagship 30 million pound commercial bio-succinic acid facility in Lake Providence, Louisiana, and anticipates beginning commercial production in early 2013. The companys D(-) lactic acid started production at commercial scale in June 2008, for use in polylactic acid. Myriant has agreements with ThyssenKrupp Uhde GmbH for engineering, Johnson Matthey - Davy Technologies for the integration of Myriants bio-succinic acid process with the JM Davy BDO/THF process for the production of bio-based BDO/THF, and PTT Chemical for the commercialization of Myriants technology in Southeast Asia. Myriant was named a Top 100 Company in North America by Red Herring Magazine in 2013. Myriant is headquartered in Quincy, Massachusetts.

About Johnson Matthey - Davy Technologies

Johnson Matthey - Davy Technologies, a fully owned subsidiary of Johnson Matthey Plc., operates globally developing and licensing chemical technologies. JM Davy has its headquarters in London and has a Technology Centre in Teesside, UK. It licences a range of proprietary process technologies such as methanol, Fischer-Tropsch, SNG, butanediol, natural detergent alcohols, oxo alcohols, PTA, industrial amines, ethyl acetate, biodiesel and propylene glycol.