Menlo Park, California -- Rennovia and Johnson Matthey Davy Technology have announced a collaboration to produce bio-based adipic acid, a feedstock for adipate polyester polyols.
Rennovia and JM Davy will work together to demonstrate and develop the Rennovia process, the firms said. Rennovia said its process involves the catalytic anerobic oxidation of glucose to glucaric acid which can then be catalytically hydrogenated to adipic acid. Adipic acid can then be converted into adipates.
"JM Davy and Rennovia anticipate delivering technology capable of producing bio-based adipic acid equivalent to the petroleum-based product, at lower cost, and with a significantly improved environmental impact," the firms said in a joint statement.
JM Davy claims to have 15m tonne/year bio-based chemicals produced using catalytic chemical transformations. Rennovia said that it is also developing bio-based hexamethylenediamine, a pre-cursor of hexamethylene diisocyanate.
