Verenium, Marubeni to pool resources for new plant

Verenium Corp. and Marubeni Corp. said in July that pursuant to the terms of their joint-development agreement, they were continuing to advance the commercialization of cellulosic-ethanol projects in Asia with the opening of a three-million-liter-a-year plant in Saraburi, Thailand. The plant is co-located with a facility that will produce ethanol from sugarcane-derived sucrose, which is abundant in the region. Verenium is a leader in the development and commercialization of next-generation cellulosic ethanol, an environment-friendly and renewable transportation fuel. Carlos Riva, president and CEO of Verenium, said he was pleased to see his company’s proprietary cellulosic technology continue to serve as a template for the commercialization of next-generation ethanol in Asia. He said, “As in the US, we believe cellulosic ethanol derived from non-food biomass is going to play a critical role in the global energy mix, and we look forward to further partnering with Marubeni, as we continue to advance additional strategic corporate-partnership opportunities to expand our technology’s reach and potential around the globe.” Marubeni is one of the biggest trading houses in Japan, with headquarters in Tokyo and 115 overseas offices in 70 countries. It has 11 sales divisions in businesses such as energy, chemicals, food and machinery, with consolidated net income reaching ¥147.2 billion (US$1.33 billion) for the last fiscal year. (July 20, 2008)