Amyris Biorefinery Successfully Restarts Industrial Production in Brazil

Brotas Plant is Producing Farnesene for a Range of Applications and, Later This Year, Will Add Patchouli for the Fragrance Industry


EMERYVILLE, Calif., April 16, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Amyris, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMRS), the leading synthetic biology innovator and renewable products company, today announced its industrial fermentation plant, located in the town of Brotas in southeastern Brazil, has successfully resumed industrial production following a planned maintenance period.

"As expected, our Brotas biorefinery has started up well following our planned upgrades and, thanks to our experienced team, is delivering similar operational performance to what we experienced in our quality runs in late 2013. We remain on track with our 2014 business plan and look forward to producing our first fragrance oil, patchouli, later this year at Brotas," said John Melo, Amyris President & CEO.

As announced in December 2013, the Company took advantage of the inter-harvest sugarcane season to make improvements to the Brotas plant to prepare for 2014 production of patchouli in addition to Biofene®, Amyris's brand of renewable farnesene. The plant improvements were completed on time and under budget prior to the start of the sugarcane harvest season. The Brotas plant has resumed production of farnesene and is operating as planned.

"In 2013, we successfully scaled our Brotas plant with record volumes of farnesene produced, started contract manufacturing initial volumes of our first fragrance molecule, and significantly expanded our customer and product portfolio. In 2014, as I wrote in my letter to our stockholders in our Annual Report, we expect to build on this success as we plan deliver not just one — but two — high-value renewable molecules from our Brotas plant, demonstrating the benefits to our partners of industrializing synthetic biology. We are pleased with the successful scale-up of three fermentation molecules and the successful restart of our plant, as well as recently announced additions to and expansions of our collaboration portfolio," added Melo.

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 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 expansion of Amyris' production in Brazil. More information about Amyris is available at www.amyris.com.

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 Amyris's plans to manufacture patchouli at its Brotas manufacturing plant) 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 potential complications in the launch of a new product sales initiative, uncertainty regarding demand levels for Biofene, Amyris' reliance on third parties to achieve its goals, and other risks detailed in the "Risk Factors" section of Amyris' quarterly report on Form 10-K filed on April 2, 2014. 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.



            

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