Amyris increased to 400 the number of São Paulo city buses running on a blend of Diesel de Cana™

In 2014, Amyris plans to produce its fragrance oil molecule from its own manufacturing facility in Brazil, following recent successful scale up of its fragrance oil at specialty contract manufacturer

EMERYVILLE, Calif., Dec. 17, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Amyris, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMRS) announced today that the number of São Paulo city buses using Amyris Renewable Diesel, which is branded locally as Diesel de Cana™, has increased to 400. Separately, Amyris announced it has successfully produced its first fragrance oil for its partner Firmenich SA, a leading global flavors and fragrances company. In 2014, building on the successful scale-up of production at a specialty contract manufacturer, Amyris plans to produce this fragrance oil at Amyris's own industrial fermentation plant, located near the town of Brotas, São Paulo state in Brazil.

"From fuels to consumer care products, we continue to make progress on our commercialization of No Compromise^® renewable products that meet our customers' needs," said John Melo, President & CEO at Amyris. "We are not only building on our existing fuels market opportunities but also expanding our portfolio of renewable products, as we have shown with our successful production of a fragrance oil, the third molecule we have taken from lab to industrial scale following artemisinin and farnesene," added Melo.

Diesel de Cana Expansion in Brazil

At an event in Sao Paulo, Amyris is announcing, along with the São Paulo Public Transportation Authority (SPTrans) and its industry partners, an increase from 300 to 400 buses running on a blend of renewable diesel produced from locally-grown sugarcane using Amyris breakthrough fermentation technology. Also, the partners are announcing a trial of three buses that will run on 100% Amyris Renewable Diesel over the coming months.

"We are pleased to increase our supply of Diesel de Cana in São Paulo, helping bring the city closer to its goal of 100% renewable fuels in public transport while reducing air pollution," said Adilson Liebsch, Commercial Director at Amyris Brasil. "Our drop-in renewable fuel has been used commercially at blends of 10-30% for two years and logged over 30 million kilometers to date. Working with Mercedes-Benz, MAN and Volvo on a 100% Diesel de Cana trial, we will build greater confidence in our fuel's quality and performance, paving the way to expand our commercial efforts in other metropolitan areas globally," added Liebsch.

The city of São Paulo has more than 15,000 buses consuming about 450 million liters (118 million gallons) of diesel per year. Amyris's sugarcane-based diesel is helping the city meet its goal of reducing fossil fuel use in the public transit system. Under city law, São Paulo is working to reduce fossil diesel use by ten percent every year through 2018.

Fragrance Oil Production Expected at Brotas in 2014

As anticipated during Amyris's prior quarter results call, the Company has begun the production of its first fragrance oil at a specialty contract manufacturing facility. Next year, building on the successful results of its initial fragrance oil production and based on feedback from its partner, Amyris plans to also produce this fragrance oil at its own Brotas production facility. The Brotas biorefinery currently produces Biofene^®, Amyris's brand of farnesene, a renewable hydrocarbon used for a range of applications. Following planned improvements to the Brotas plant in early 2014, Amyris expects to be able to produce both Biofene and a range of other fermentation products, including its fragrance oils, at the plant.

"We have produced our first fragrance oil for our partner Firmenich who will use it in its own formulations as well as supply it to some of its key customers. With the knowledge we have gained from successful scale-up runs, we plan to make modifications to our Brotas plant early next year that will allow us to produce this fragrance oil at our own facility. We believe this will help us increase volumes and lower our production costs, as well give us the flexibility to produce multiple products to maximize the overall efficiency of our Brotas operation," concluded Melo.

"Amyris has proven it can produce at scale our first collaboration fragrance molecule using its innovative technology. This technology will enable Firmenich to make differentiated perfume creations with unique renewable ingredients. Our clients expect reliability of supply, cost innovation and olfactive differentiation, all of which we think the move to Brotas will help support," said Boet Brinkgreve, Group Vice president, Ingredients at FIRMENICH.

Earlier this year, Amyris announced an expansion of its collaboration with Firmenich, with commercialization of its first fragrance molecule targeted for early 2014. The two companies continue to collaborate on additional molecules that Firmenich can market in the flavors and fragrances market. As detailed previously, the parties will share in the economic value derived from the sale of these ingredients.

About Amyris

Amyris is an integrated renewable products company focused on providing sustainable alternatives to a broad range of petroleum-sourced products. Amyris uses its industrial synthetic biology platform to convert plant sugars into a variety of molecules -- flexible building blocks that can be used in a wide range of products. Amyris's initial portfolio of commercial products is based on Biofene®, Amyris's brand of renewable farnesene, a long-chain hydrocarbon. Amyris is commercializing these products both as No Compromise® renewable ingredients in cosmetics, flavors and fragrances, polymers, lubricants and consumer products, and also as No Compromise renewable diesel and jet fuel. Amyris Brasil Ltda., a subsidiary of Amyris, oversees the establishment and commercialization of Amyris's production in Brazil. www.amyris.com

Amyris Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements, and any statements other than statements of historical facts could be deemed to be forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements regarding future events (such as benefits of renewable diesel, development, production and commercialization of flavors and fragrances molecules, the use of a new manufacturing facility to produce an new molecule, expectations for a collaboration arrangement with a partner, and anticipated benefits of production strategies) that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are based on management's current expectations and actual results and future events may differ materially due to risks and uncertainties, including those associated with any delays or failures in development, production and commercialization of products, liquidity and ability to fund capital expenditures, Amyris's reliance on third parties to achieve its goals, and other risks detailed in the "Risk Factors" section of Amyris's quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed on November 5, 2013. Amyris disclaims any obligation to update information contained in these forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Amyris, the Amyris logo, Biofene and No Compromise are trademarks or registered trademarks of Amyris, Inc.