BASF, Renmatix and Cheap Industrial Sugars

Hopefully even wood can be a viable
source of industrial sugar
Source: Jiri Hodan / www.publicdomainpictures.net

With the participation of BASF in Renmatix through a $30 million investment, we are keeping our hopes high that somebody, Renmatix in this case, will come up with ways to produce cheap and viable biofuels from wood chips and corn stovers. The biofuels industry, particularly in the US, is in need of innovative companies that can produce ethanol from sources that will not compete against food.

Although current known processes of extracting industrial sugar from cellulosic materials have been expensive, Renmatix claims that they have made breakthroughs in reducing the cost. Now, backed up by BASF, we are hoping that this is true and that Renmatix will soon be able to commercialize their process.

Renmatix is the proprietary of the Plantrose process, a two phase method of extracting sugar from cellulosic materials using supercritical water. For more information, you may visit http://renmatix.com.