Bioamber Commissions World's First Renewable Succinic Acid Plant

Bioamber (http://www.bio-amber.com/) , a joint venture between US-based DNP (http://www.dnpgreen.com/) Green Technology and France-based ARD (http://www.a-r-d.fr/)(Agro-industrie Recherches et Développements), announces the successful start-up and commissioning of the world's first bio-based succinic acid plant. Since December 2009, the plant has been producing renewable succinic acid from wheat derived glucose.

Built on time and on budget, this industrial scale plant has an initial annual capacity of 2,000 metric tons. Bioamber's renewable succinic acid offers higher purity than petroleum derived succinic acid, with the added benefit of consuming CO2 gas in the production process, giving it a distinct advantage over the traditional petrochemical route.

Bioamber will begin selling bio-based succinic acid immediately to a variety of customers and will build market demand as it negotiates the sale of licenses for large scale succinic acid plants.

"Since 2007, we have sampled over 50 companies in a number of applications including plastics, polyurethanes, polyesters, plasticizers, solvents and de-icers," said Patrick Piot, General Manager of Bioamber. "This production plant is a major milestone in our development. Renewable succinic acid is no longer an R&D program; it is a commercial reality for the chemical industry."

About ARD

ARD (Agro-Industrie Recherches et Développements) is the R&D centre of a large agro-industrial consortium based in Champagne-Ardenne, France. Member of the global-scale competitiveness cluster IAR (Industries and Agro-Resources), ARD adds value to and finds new outlets for agricultural crops. It develops innovative and competitive bio-based molecules produced in bio-refineries. Along with its affiliate SOLIANCE, specialized in the production and commercialization of cosmetics active ingredients, ARD has 25 years of experience in biomass fractionation, bio-based chemistry, and industrial biotechnology. ARD and its affiliates employ over 130 people.