Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Monday, October 24, 2011

Amyris & ETH Bioenergia Sign Agreement to Produce Biofene® in Brazil

Amyris press release

Two Million Ton Sugarcane Crush Capacity to be added in Brazil for High-Performance Renewable Chemicals and Fuels

EMERYVILLE, Calif. & SÃO PAULO, Brazil — (October 20, 2011) – Amyris, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMRS) and ETH Bioenergia, a leading producer of ethanol, electric energy and sugar controlled by Odebrecht S.A., have signed a memorandum of understanding for the formation of a joint venture to produce Biofene®, Amyris’s renewable farnesene

Under the agreement, the joint venture would be able to access up to two million tons of sugarcane crush capacity per year at one of ETH’s greenfield mills in Brazil. The joint venture will be controlled by ETH, and Amyris will have exclusive marketing rights for the Biofene produced at the facility. By leveraging ETH’s renowned skills on biomass production and industrial performance and Amyris’s technology, the parties expect to be able to begin production by 2014.

“ETH has been at the leading edge of sugarcane ethanol production in Brazil and now, with our technology, Amyris will be able to market renewable products made from Biofene produced at one of ETH’s new mills,” said John Melo, CEO of Amyris. “Through this joint venture with ETH, and other agreements already announced in Brazil, Amyris now has access to 15 million tons of sugarcane crush capacity for our production.”

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