UPM in IP deal

Finnish giant UPM has reached an agreement with Avantium to acquire the IP related to Ray Technology, a process for the production of bio-based mono-ethylene and mono-propylene glycol (MEG/MPG) from plant-based sugars. Terms were not disclosed but UPM said that it was “not material in financial terms”. 

The company said that the strategic value of this deal likes in expanding its IP position across the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to biobased glycols, while adding options for future process configurations as it scales its biobased chemicals business. UPM was the first company to bring lignocellulosic biomass-based chemicals production to industrial scale, which is now being started up at the biorefinery in Leuna, Germany.