Rennovia licenses glucaric acid to ADM

Rennovia, a California-based start-up that develops catalytic routes to biobased chemicals, and catalyst specialist Johnson Matthey are licensing their glucaric acid technology to the agricultural giant Archer Daniels Midland for commercialization. ADM made a $25 million investment in Rennovia in 2014. Glucaric acid is used to make sodium glucarate, an alternative to phosphates in dishwasher detergents. Another start-up, Rivertop Renewables, has been making sodium glucarate commercially since 2015. Rennovia and Matthey have operated a small-scale plant at Matthey’s Stockton, England, R&D center since 2015.