Johnson Matthey Davy Technologies Ltd. (JM Davy), a global provider of advanced process technologies and Rennovia, Inc., a development stage company focused on the production of commodity and speciality chemicals from renewable feedstocks, announced that they are embarking on a collaboration to develop, demonstrate and commercialize catalytic process technologies for the production of bio-based glucaric acid and adipic acid.

Under the collaboration, Rennovia and JM Davy will work together to develop and demonstrate the processes based on Rennovia’s technology for the catalytic aerobic oxidation of glucose to glucaric acid, as well as the catalytic hydrogenation of glucaric acid to adipic acid. The goal of the collaboration is to develop and jointly license a technology package enabling commercial production of these chemical products.

Adipic acid, an industrial chemical conventionally derived from petroleum, is a multi-billion dollar global market, with major applications in nylon-6,6 fibers, engineering resins, polyester polyols for polyurethanes, and adipate ester plasticizers. JM Davy and Rennovia anticipate delivering technology capable of producing a bio-based adipic acid equivalent to the petroleum-based product, at a lower cost, and with a significantly improved environmental footprint.

Glucaric acid is an emerging platform chemical with wide applications in detergent, de-icing, cement and anti-corrosion markets.