Cargill is already a large supplier of carbohydrates and other biotech offerings. This acquisition further expands its presence in commercial fermentation products outside of food and feed.

OPXBIO will support the transition to Cargill over the coming months.

OPXBIO developed and piloted the microbe and bioprocess to produce its first renewable chemical product—BioAcrylic—in 18 months. OPXBIO was collaborating with The Dow Chemical Company, the largest US producer of petro-acrylic, to complete the development of the commercial-scale BioAcrylic process using renewable sugar feedstock and to secure downstream customer acceptance. OPXBIO produced BioAcrylic at large, pre-commercial demonstration scale and anticipated entering the market with commercial product by 2016.

The company also developed a lab-scale bioprocess for fatty acids. The fatty acid process starts with sugar feedstock or with hydrogen and carbon dioxide generated from biomass, solid waste, industrial off-gas, or natural gas. Fatty acids can also be converted into renewable diesel and jet fuel. The renewable fuel potential for the fatty acid work earned a $6-million award from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to support the research and development.

This sale of OPXBIO’s technology to Cargill demonstrates the great progress OPXBIO has made towards product commercialization. Cargill has all the right capabilities and experience to deliver products produced from OPXBIO’s technology to customers.

—Mike Rosenberg, CEO of OPXBIO