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METabolic EXplorer on way to developing bio-process for textiles

05
Dec '08

METabolic EXplorer, a green chemistry company that specializes in the development of bioprocesses for the production of chemical compounds used in a wide range of everyday products (paints, solvents, animal feed supplements, adhesives, textile fibres, resorbable surgical thread) announced today that MPG has entered the pre-pilot stage industrial phase* of its development.

METabolic EXplorer has now achieved its annual objectives: With today's announcement, METabolic EXplorer has achieved the objective it announced at the beginning of the year: entry of its five portfolio products into the pre-pilot stage of the pre-industrial phase. METabolic EXplorer employs 90 people, representing a unique mix of scientific, biocomputing and industrial skills.

The progress that METabolic EXplorer has made in 2008 demonstrates the Company's commitment to the industrial development of alternative solutions to the current oil-dependent chemical processes.

MPG's applications and the scale of the potential global market:
MPG is an important component in the production of antifreeze products, and resins used for furniture items. It also used in the production of cosmetics and hygienic products, such as creams, solvents and perfumes. The global market for MPG has the potential to reach a total of 1.5 millions tonnes** worth approximately $2.7 billion.

MPG, as well as the other products developed by METabolic EXplorer, is produced using a unique biological process which is an attractive alternative to traditional petrochemical methods for the production on bulk chemicals.

METabolic EXplorer five portfolio products – two of which have been exclusively licensed– will be used to produce a range of everyday products and as a result they are targeting a potential global market value of $14 billion**.

The five products METabolic EXplorer is developing are as follows (in alphabetical order):
-Glycolic Acid: used in the manufacture of cosmetics or biodegradable plastics.
-Butanol: used in the production of paints and adhesives.
-L-Methionine: used in the production of animal feed supplements.
-MGP (1.2 Propanediol): used in the production antifreeze products and furniture items.
-PDO (1.3 Propanediol): used in the production of textile fibres, polymers or cooling products.

Olivier Nore, Director of Industrialisation of the Company, declared: “The additional investments that we completed in June 2008 added more than 50% to the capacity of our pre-pilot phase capabilities, fully benefiting the development of MPG.

Thanks to these investments we have been able to support the parallel development of all of the company's products at the appropriate speed. We remain on track to generate the process books for each proprietary product according to our current schedule."

The pre-pilot industrial phase makes it possible to determine the production parameters needed before a product can move into industrial scale evaluation and thus it constitutes a major advance towards the industrialization of each of these products.

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