EMERYVILLE, Calif., March 06, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Amyris, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMRS), the industrial bioscience company, today announced that Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. (TYO:5110) has adopted liquid farnesene rubber (LFR) as a performance enhancing additive for use in the production of its latest Dunlop-branded Winter Maxx 02 tires. LFR is a liquid rubber developed by Kuraray Co., LTD (TYO:3405) using Amyris’s biologically derived Biofene® branded farnesene. The Winter Maxx 02 represents the brand’s best tire to date for on-ice and snow-braking performance and for durability. LFR’s breakthrough performance enhancement will be available across Dunlop’s entire Winter Maxx 02 portfolio of 91 sizes.
“We are excited to join with Kuraray in bringing LFR to the large global tire market and commercializing safer high-performance tires that utilize an additive from a sustainable resource,” said John Melo, President & CEO of Amyris. “This marks the first global tire brand to adopt our disruptive technology to deliver innovation. The better than expected results from this first launch are leading to significantly better early sales of LFR than we expected. We expect this commercial entry is just the start of anticipated adoption by other major brands across the world.”
The unique qualities of farnesene material, which is only available at commercial scale from Amyris, is propelling product innovation and rapidly growing demand from the company’s customers. This has helped support Amyris’s ability to post significant revenue growth for 2016 with expectations that product revenues will continue to significantly expand.
Biofene
Amyris’s sugar cane-derived Biofene forms the basis for a wide range of products varying from specialty products such as cosmetics, perfumes, detergents and industrial lubricants, to transportation fuels such as diesel and jet fuel. As a tailor made pure hydrocarbon it provides numerous advantages when compared to petroleum-based oils and chemicals and is renewable, contributing to a sustainable future.
LFR Features
- A proprietary liquid rubber using farnesene manufactured from sugar cane using fermentation technology.
- A viscosity that is much lower compared with current liquid isoprene rubber making it easier for rubber product manufacturers to use. In addition, it maintains excellent flexibility, even at low temperatures.
- Its unique chemical structure reacts completely with solid rubber during processing, meaning that, unlike oil additives it stays bonded, keeping tires softer, longer. In tires, its ice grip performance is maintained over many years.
About Amyris
Amyris is the integrated renewable products company that is enabling the world's leading brands to achieve sustainable growth. Amyris applies its innovative bioscience solutions to convert plant sugars into hydrocarbon molecules and produce specialty ingredients and consumer products. The company is delivering its No Compromise® products across a number of markets, including specialty and performance chemicals, flavors and fragrances, cosmetics ingredients, pharmaceuticals, and nutraceuticals. More information about the company is available at www.amyris.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements, and any statements other than statements of historical facts could be deemed to be forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements regarding future events (such as the expected availability of LFR in Dunlop tires, anticipated adoption of LFR by other major brands, expected product innovation and growth in demand from Amyris’s customers, and anticipated growth in Amyris’s product revenues) that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are based on management's current expectations and actual results and future events may differ materially due to risks and uncertainties, including risks related to manufacturing capacity at Amyris’s Brotas facility, delays or failures in development, production and commercialization of products, liquidity and ability to fund capital expenditures, Amyris’s reliance on third parties to achieve its goals, and other risks detailed in the “Risk Factors” section of Amyris’s quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed on November 9, 2016. Amyris disclaims any obligation to update information contained in these forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
Amyris, the Amyris logo and Biofene are registered trademarks of Amyris, Inc. All other trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners.