The multiple runs of the fermentation process to produce the farnesene were performed in both 100,000 and 200,000 liter capacity fermentors, through contract manufacturing operations in North America and Europe.
“These runs significantly de-risk our operations at industrial scale,” said Jeff Lievense, senior vice president of process development and manufacturing at Amyris.
In cosmetics “Biofene can be used as a renewable and sustainable building block from which key cosmetics and flavor & fragrance ingredients can be derived. It is a natural replacement for petroleum-derived or non-sustainable material (e.g. squalane extracted from shark liver),” explained Ena Cratsenburg, vice president of Business Development at Amyris.
“Biofene-derived ingredients are developed and manufactured to be either “drop-in” replacements for existing ingredients (such as the case with squalane) or novel ingredients that provide superior performance in formulation relative to what is currently available in the market,” she told CosmeticsDesign.com USA.
Technology platform forges reliable supply
Moreover, according to Cratsenburg, the Amyris technology platform enables a reliable supply and stable price of Biofene-derived ingredients.
In its product development efforts for cosmetic fragrance ingredients, Amyris found that the purity and molecular structure of Biofene allows it to be a flexible and highly-valuable building block for these markets.
“Amyris’ technology platform is uniquely suited to produce sustainable and natural ingredients that are commonly used in cosmetics and flavor & fragrance formulations, as we have validated with our current partners,” said Cratsenburg.
Amyris expects to commence commercial production of Biofene in the second quarter of 2011. In addition, Amyris and Grupo São Martinho, a sugar and ethanol producer in Brazil, have commenced site preparation on their joint venture production facility at Usina São Martinho. which will utilize fermentors with capacities ranging between 100,000 and 600,000 liters.
“We have already produced limited quantities of Biofene at industrial scale, and are expanding this production by bringing additional facilities on line,” added Cratsenburg.