User:Michael.logsdon/Elevance Renewable Sciences

Elevance Renewable Sciences (ERS)

Elevance Renewable Sciences Inc. (ERS) is a renewable specialty chemical company headquartered in the Chicago-area suburb of Bolingbrook, Illinois¹. Elevance’s origin can be traced to a 2004, $1.8 million, Department of Energy (DOE) grant² supporting the collaborative work between Cargill and Materia to commercialize Materia’s proprietary, Nobel Prize winning, catalyst technology.³ In 2007, Elevance was created through a $40 million venture capital investment led by TPG Capital’s Growth and Biotechnology funds.

Technology

Elevance converts natural oils (such as soybean, canola, corn and sunflower oils) into chemicals and waxes using a catalyst technology. The technology is based on research conducted by Dr. Robert H. Grubbs, whose work on olefin metathesis won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2005.⁶ In olefin metathesis the double-bonding atom groups will change places with one another. Through the process, Elevance produces a range of chemical products, including alpha-olefins and internal-olefins, novel specialty chemicals, oleochemicals and modified triglycerides.⁷

Partnerships

Wilmar International

Wilmar International: Elevance entered into a joint venture with Wilmar International Limited, the largest global processor of palm oil, to build and supply a 50 million gallon per year commercial scale biorefinery in Surabaya, Indonesia.⁸⁹¹⁰

Dow Corning

Dow Corning Joint Development Agreement: Elevance entered into a joint development agreement on September 9th 2008 with Dow Corning Corporation (DCC) to use Elevance's proprietary technology to produce novel renewable resource derived products.¹¹¹²

Stepan Company

Stepan Joint Development Agreement: Elevance and Stepan, a producer of specialty and intermediate chemicals, on the development and marketing of surfactants, antimicrobials and polyurethane polyols using Elevance's proprietary feedstock 9-decenoic esters and C18 dibasic ester.¹³¹⁴¹⁵

Cargill

Cargill Joint Supply and Marketing Alliance: Elevance entered into a supply and marketing agreement with Cargill in 2008, one of the world's largest producers of agricultural oils, whereby Cargill supplies Elevance’s requirements for bulk vegetable and animal based oils and fats. Cargill has also entered into a marketing alliance with Elevance to develop new vegetable-based candle and corrugated products into Europe.¹⁶¹⁷¹⁸

United Soybean Board (USB)

United Soybean Board Grant: Elevance has received funding through the United Soybean Board (USB) in 2009 that supports research and development to improve the functionality of the company’s soy-based waxes.¹⁹

SaskCanola

Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission Grant: Elevance announced it received a grant from the Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission (SaskCanola) on July 16th 2009 to enhance the use of canola in the development of renewable-based chemicals through olefin metathesis.²⁰

Department of Energy (DOE)

Department of Energy (DOE) Grant: In December 2009 Elevance was selected to receive a $2.5 million award from the Department of Energy (DOE) to support the design of a demonstration biorefinery, which was funded as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.²¹

Tetramer Technologies

Tetramer Technologies: Elevance announced a partnership with Tetramer Technologies (Pendleton, SC) on October 22^nd 2008 to support the development and commercialization of renewable specialty chemicals, renewable intermediates, and renewable waxes.²²

Materia

Materia: Materia, Inc. is a leading-edge technology organization leveraging patents from the California Institute of Technology (CalTech). The company acts as a technology partner to Elevance, supporting work to commercialize the production of renewable chemicals. Materia is also a minority shareholder in Elevance.²³

Media

“10 of Cargill’s Next-Gen Biofuel Bets” Reuters (August 19, 2010)

“Amoco alums take on Big Oil”, Crain's Chicago Business (August 2, 2010)

“Interview: Update on Elevance”, ICIS Green Chemicals (July 29, 2010)

“Wilmar, Elevance to build Indonesia biochemical plant”, Reuters (June 29, 2010)

"Honing a Competitive Edge", GCI magazine (April 30, 2009)

"Elevance May Raise $50 Million to Acquire Biodiesel Refineries", Bloomberg (March 18, 2009)

"Top Ten Most Successful Startup for 2008", BusinessWeek (August 2008)

Links

Official Website: www.elevance.com
Related Wikipedia Article: Vivek Paul