Press Releases

EMERYVILLE, Calif., April 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Amyris, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMRS), a leading synthetic biotechnology company accelerating the world's transition to sustainable consumption through its Lab-to-Market™ technology platform today announced that it has started the commissioning of its new fermentation plant in Barra Bonita, Brazil.

The greenfield site at Barra Bonita is a strategic investment with which Amyris leads the biotechnology sector with manufacturing at industrial scale. The new plant is strategically located next to the Raizen sugar mill, which is the world's second largest of its kind, ensuring continuity of supply and favorable feedstock economics. Sugar cane is a key feedstock for producing our sustainable ingredients. Brazil ranks number one in global sugar production, and operating costs in Brazil are advantaged compared to the U.S. and Europe. The fermentation plant has a proprietary design with a process tower that is 2-times taller than the company's prior Brotas plant to take full advantage of gravity in its vertical fermentation process. The site consists of five fermentation "mini-factories" capable of concurrently producing our more than 13 currently scaled and future bio-fermented products. The site has ample space and infrastructure for future expansion.

There is strong consumer demand for bio-based products. A real shift is occurring across multiple end-markets, including food and personal care. Biotechnology has seen significant investment over the past years. However, the majority of the funding has been applied toward the front of the funnel; gene discovery, genetic pathway modeling and microbe engineering. Little investment has been seen downstream in fermentation process development, scale up and fermentation at scale. The lack of scaled precision fermentation expertise and capacity, and thus the ability to manufacture cost effectively at scale is an impediment to biotechnology making a commercial impact. The sector's capital light approach toward fermentation capacity does not bode well for future success.

"At Amyris we are taking control of our destiny with the Barra Bonita plant," said John Melo, President and Chief Executive Officer. "Industry experts are seeing a significant future gap between supply and demand of fermentation-based products. We set out a strategic path over a decade ago that, beyond being the recognized leaders in the science of biotechnology, we would invest in fermentation process capability and capacity. We have a highly experienced team that combines the art and science of manufacturing at scale all the way from the lab bench to the fermentation tower. We are very proud of the team that has engineered and constructed our new plant in record time and during an unprecedented pandemic. We have started to activate the process control modules and are in the process of testing the instruments and automation protocols to ensure that all systems and components are operating efficiently and safely. We are looking forward to accelerating the commissioning process, including the completion of the sterility hold, with a view to operationalize the plant during the second quarter."

Amyris (Nasdaq: AMRS) is a leading synthetic biotechnology company, transitioning the Clean Health & Beauty and Flavors & Fragrances markets to sustainable ingredients through fermentation and the company's proprietary Lab-to-Market™ technology platform. This Amyris platform leverages state-of-the-art machine learning, robotics and artificial intelligence, enabling the company to rapidly bring new innovation to market at commercial scale. Amyris ingredients are included in over 20,000 products from the world's top brands, reaching more than 300 million consumers. Amyris also owns and operates a family of consumer brands that is constantly evolving to meet the growing demand for sustainable, effective and accessible products. For more information, please visit http://www.amyris.com.

Amyris, the Amyris logo and Lab-to-Market are trademarks or registered trademarks of Amyris, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

SOURCE Amyris, Inc.