Rivertop Renewables: Biofuels Digest’s 2014 5-Minute Guide

Rivertop Renewables has developed a scalable, green chemistry route to glucaric acid and other novel chemicals from renewable resources. These renewable chemicals can improve the performance and sustainability profile of end products while reducing customers’ total cost of formulation.

Rankings:

30 Hottest Companies in Renewable Chemicals: #28, 2013/14

Model:

Technology licensor.

The Situation:

Rivertop Renewables announced this week that it has raised $26 million in its Series B investment round from Cargill, First Green Partners and existing investors.

Rivertop will leverage these funds and an existing manufacturing relationship to produce market development quantities of salts of glucaric acid for select customers.  In addition, it will complete construction and begin operations at a semi-works facility at its headquarters in Missoula, where it will optimize its process for world-scale deployment. Rivertop plans to hire more than 20 employees in the next 12 months to support commercial development, effectively doubling the size of its workforce.

Rivertop has developed a way to make glucaric acid, glucarates and other biodegradable chemicals from renewable resources in abundant quantity and at a low cost. These and other renewable chemicals can reduce society’s dependence on oil, gas, and minerals and limit the amount of persistent chemicals in the environment.
The opportunity provided by Rivertop’s technology platform is significant: The economical production of glucarate alone — one of the top twelve renewable chemical building blocks identified by the U.S. Department of Energy—”could address a market of over 9 billion lb/yr with values between $0.85 and $2.20/lb.”
As the technology is scaled, Rivertop will become the first large-scale producer of salts of glucaric acid that is capable of serving large consumer and industrial markets. In order to demonstrate the broad applicability of glucaric acid derivatives, Rivertop has focused on the benefits it can bring to consumer detergents and industrial road de-icing solutions.

The Company’s Riose detergent builders enable automatic dishwashing detergent brands to meet consumer performance standards at a lower total cost of formulation. Rivertop’s Headwaters™ corrosion inhibitors provide more than a 70 percent reduction in pitting and rust formation on steel guardrails, bridge rebar and vehicle parts.

Applications

• Chelation – The salts of Rivertop’s sugar acids can be applied to chelate various metal ions. For example, Rivertop’s Riose detergent builder demonstrates binding capacity to sequester free calcium at a rate comparable to that of phosphates.
• Coating – Salts of sugar acids exhibit strong corrosion inhibition properties through a coating mechanism, especially in saline environments. Rivertop’s Headwaters corrosion inhibitors demonstrate capacity to reduce the corrosivity of saturated salt brine (23.3% NaCl) by over 70%.
• Acidification – Initial screening of Rivertop sugar acids has demonstrated a capacity to drop pH to levels suitable for various applications in upstream and downstream oil and gas development. .
• Dispersion – Sustainable alternatives to polyacrylates are sought for application in various products used in home and personal care, paints and concrete.
• Absorption – A class of polymers built from Rivertop sugar acids exhibit characteristics of high liquid absorbency (indiscriminate of materials dissolved or suspended in the liquid), reasonable biodegradability, and activation by heat and/or pressure.

Past Milestones:

Founded on proven oxidation technology, Rivertop’s platform technology can produce glucaric acid and other specialty chemicals at an economical price and on an industrial scale. Rivertop has completed their semi-works facility, along with the renovation of their chemistry labs and office space.

Back in 2011, Rivertop Renewables was awarded a contract from the Montana Department of Transportation to supply 110,000 gallons of bio-based corrosion inhibitor for use with liquid deicers on the state’s snowy and icy roads this winter.

Rivertop’s “Headwaters” inhibitor was mixed with MDT’s salt brine deicers to prevent the corrosion of bridges and vehicles. Derived from renewable corn sugar, Headwaters is a completely biodegradable, cost-effective inhibitor.  Rivertop’s Headwaters is derived from sodium gluconate.

Future Milestones:

Scale-up to first commercial

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