Amyris appoints Kraft as vice president of global manufacturing and process development

Amyris, Inc., a leading renewable chemicals and fuels company based in Emeryville, Calif., U.S.A., announced the appointment of Charles Kraft, a specialty fermentation industry veteran, as vice president of global manufacturing and process development.
John Melo, president and chief executive officer of Amyris, said that Kraft’s experience and leadership will be a good complement to the company’s manufacturing and process team. He added that Amyris, having successfully engineered yeast strains to produce farnesene, artemisinic acid, and a fragrance ingredient, is in the final stages of commissioning its first purpose-built farnesene plant in Brazil. Kraft would help take the company’s industrial manufacturing capability to its next phase of operational improvements and optimization of processing to scale up production and drive production cost down, he added.
 
Kraft brings to Amyris his previous experiences as vice president for operations and earlier vice president of engineering at DuPontTate and Lyle BioProducts, a joint venture that produces 1, 3-propanediol (Bio-PDO™) by fermenting plant-based sugars. Previous to that, he held a number of operational positions for nearly 20 years at Tate & Lyle’s citric acid production facility in the U.S.
 
Giving his observations about Amyris’ operations, Kraft said, “Amyris is making history with its technology platform and the impending start-up of its facility at Paraíso. Based on my review of Amyris’ operations in California, Illinois, and Brazil over the last several weeks, Amyris is well on track to become a predictable, reliable manufacturer of renewable chemicals and fuels to meet growing customer demand. I am excited to leverage my experience in industrial fermentation with the manufacturing base and talented team that is already in place.” (October 9, 2012)