Elevance Continues to Achieve Milestones in Production Capabilities and Growth

Company Expands Facilities to Accommodate Growing Demand

May 3, 2010 (Woodbridge, IL)

Elevance Renewable Sciences, Inc. announced today several milestones in the growth of the company, including a laboratory and office expansion, continued employee growth, completion of a pilot-scale laboratory unit, and a large scale conversion of feedstocks into specialty chemicals using the Company’s proprietary bio-refinery technology.

Since moving into its Bolingbrook facility in September 2008, Elevance has grown its workforce by more than 54 percent. The total number of employees for the company is now approaching 60, with continued job growth expected in the coming months.

In order to accommodate this continued business growth, Elevance has expanded its office and lab facilities, which are based in Bolingbrook, IL. The office has grown by 28 percent, which includes new employee workspace. The company has added an additional 700 square feet of lab space and more than 35 feet of hood space, an increase of 83%. The lab expansion includes the addition of 3 different sized parr vessels, glove boxes for air sensitive catalyst research and a pilot-scale laboratory unit that will enable the company to provide customers with thousands of pounds of developmental samples. Finally, Elevance has substantially added to its analytical equipment and capabilities, including 2 GC Mass Spectrometers with chemical ionization and a 400 MHz NMR.

As an example of Elevance’s growth in action, the company recently completed its first a toll production run utilizing Elevance’s proprietary bio-refinery technology. The toll production involved the conversion of a 40,000 pounds of feedstock into specialty and commodity chemicals. The project was significant due to the size and scale of the run. The toll conversion yielded larger quantities of specialty chemicals for customer qualification and development as well as technical data that will be useful in scaling the process in a world scale facility.

“In just two years, we have seen Elevance grow from an idea into a company that continues to expand and achieve milestones in the renewable chemicals industry,” said K’Lynne Johnson, CEO of Elevance. “The 40,000 poundsize conversion is a significant step for Elevance as we continue to utilize our technology on a larger scale, increasing opportunities for commercialization of high-performing specialty chemicals made from renewable resources.”

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