Elevance Renewable Sciences, Inc., which is commercializing olefin metathesis technology for renewable fuels and chemicals (earlier post), has completed a licensing agreement with XiMo AG, a company founded by renowned chemists Amir H. Hoveyda and Richard R. Schrock, to use XiMo’s proprietary molybdenum and tungsten metathesis catalysts in the field of natural oils.
Elevance produces high performance ingredients for use in personal care products, detergents, lubricants and other specialty chemicals and fuel markets from renewable feedstocks. XiMo will work exclusively with Elevance in the natural oils field during the term of a collaborative research program between the parties.
The catalysts from XiMo will expand Elevance’s catalyst portfolio to include not only metathesis reactions based on ruthenium catalysts, but also tungsten and molybdenum complexes. XiMo partners with leading companies, providing access to its intellectual property and technical expertise, to solve complex industrial chemistry problems.
The addition of XiMo’s catalysts to our existing portfolio of metathesis catalysts will expand Elevance’s capabilities to provide further customer solutions utilizing renewable feedstocks. Amir Hoveyda and Richard Schrock are leaders in metathesis catalyst research and we are proud of this collaborative program to work with them.
—K’Lynne Johnson, CEO of Elevance
XiMo’s catalysts are based on the breakthrough scientific research of founders Dr. Schrock and Dr. Hoveyda. Schrock is the co-winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and the Frederick G. Keyes Professor of Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Hoveyda is the Patricia and Joseph T. Vanderslice Millennium Professor of Chemistry at Boston College.
Elevance was formed in 2007, with capital and technology invested by TPG Biotech, TPG Growth, Cargill and Materia. Major developments from Elevance in 2010 include a joint venture with Wilmar International to build the world’s largest biorefinery in Indonesia, and a joint development agreement with Stepan Company to commercialize novel surfactants and antimicrobials.
In 2010 the company expanded its investors to include Naxos Capital Partners and Total Energy Ventures International. In addition to XiMo, Elevance counts Wilmar International, Stepan Company, Cargill Inc., Dow Corning Corporation, Trent University, Tetramer Technologies, United Soybean Board and SaskCanola among its strategic partners.