The US biotech company Amyris aims at becoming a great player in the world bioeconomy. Founded in 2003 in the San Francisco Bay Area by a group of scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, Amyris – as anticipated during its prior quarter results call – has begun the production of its first fragrance oil at a specialty contract manufacturing facility. In 2014, building on the successful results of its initial fragrance oil production and based on feedback from its partner, Amyris plans to also produce this fragrance oil at its own Brotas production facility. The Brotas biorefinery currently produces Biofene, Amyris’s brand of farnesene, a renewable hydrocarbon used for a range of applications. Following planned improvements to the Brotas plant in early 2014, Amyris expects to be able to produce both Biofene and a range of other fermentation products, including its fragrance oils, at the plant.

This announcement follows the one of last December, when Amyris announced together with the French oil giant Total the formation of Total Amyris Biosolutions, a 50-50 joint venture that will produce market renewable diesel and jet fuel.

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