Amyris São Paulo Joint Venture Farnesene Plant 45% Complete

Amyris Inc., through a joint venture with São Martinho SA, has completed 45% of the construction of its Pradópolis, São Paulo-based SMA Indústria Química plant, according to Agra Informa.

SMA Indústria Química is slated to produce farnesene from sugarcane syrup. In February, the joint venture decided to delay plans to work on a 100-million liter farnesene plant as it faced scale-up difficulties at other plants. The issue has delayed the project by two years (the facility was initially scheduled to start operations in mid-2012).