Estes to head up GranBio’s US operations

In Brazil, GranBio announced that it will open its US operations office and named Vonnie Estes as Managing Director – US.

In this new role, Ms. Estes will lead GranBio’s efforts to access new technologies and establish key public and private collaborations for the company’s continued global expansion in advanced biorefinery development. The U.S. operations will be headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, California.

Ms. Estes joins GranBio from Codexis, a developer of engineered enzymes for pharmaceutical, biofuel and chemical production, where she most recently was Vice President of Corporate Development.

Prior to CDXS, she was the Chief Commercial Officer at DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol as Executive Vice President, Business Development. Prior to joining DDCE, she led DuPont’s commercialization program for cellulosic ethanol, and managed the biofuels platform and strategic alliances at Syngenta.

GranBio on the move

Last week, at the Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference (ABLC 2013), GranBio completed the acquisition of a 25% equity stake in cleantech process development company American Process. Under the agreement, GranBio said it will have gained access to a proprietary biomass pretreatment platform that makes it possible to cost-effectively develop cellulosic sugars as a feedstock to a range of biochemicals and biofuels.

Deal terms were not disclosed by the partners.

The companies said that they expect to break ground on their first commercial-scale facility by the end of 2014. The companies will collaborate on a first commercial facility with API technology in Brazil, followed by one in the United States.