BASF, through its subsidiary BASF Biorenewable Beteiligungs, is investing $30m in the US-based technology firm Renmatix.
BASF's subsidiary has led a $50m financing round, joined by new and existing investors.
Renmatix has developed a patented process, the Plantrose technology platform, through which industrial sugar can be produced in large quantities and at competitive cost from non-edible plant mass, including lignocellulosic biomass such as wood, cane trash and straw.
Through a two-step process, thebiomass is split into cellulose and sugar in supercritical water at a high temperature and pressure.
Renmatix said that the industrial sugars are important renewable resources for the chemical industry, and can be used to produce biofuels or chemicals such as acrylic acid, a building block for plastics and intermediates by fermentative processes.
BASF incubation modelling, formulation research and technology senior vice-president Josef Wunsch said that Plantrose technology will allow the company to broaden its use of renewable raw materials while improving the cost effectiveness of value chains even further.
"In the partnership with Renmatix, BASF is pursuing a new direction while simultaneously underlining its corporate strategy of offering even more sustainable solutions," Wunsch said.
Renmatix CEO Mike Hamilton said they have already showed the functionality of the Plantrose process in a pilot plant and will be moving it to the industrial scale in cooperation with BASF.
