Amyris signs with two Brazilian companies for sugar cane diesel production

In California, Amyris announced agreements with two Brazilian companies, fuel distributor Crystalsev and ethanol producer Santelisa Vale, to produce sugar cane based diesel fuel using an Amyris technology that converts biomass into hydrocarbons rather than alcohols. The company said that conversion into biodiesel, jet fuels and synthetic gasoline would offer more flexibility than ethanol, which has a 30 percent lower energy density than gasoline and can only be used in specially-modified engines.

Last September, Amyris Biotechnologies closed the first tranche of its $70 million Series B funding led by DAG Ventures and joined by Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufiled & Byers and TPG Ventures. The company creates designer microorganisms to increase the efficiency of converting biomass into fuels.

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