Renewable chemistry company BioAmber (Plymouth, Minnesota / USA; www.bio-amber.com) has announced a reduction in its gross loss to USD 410,000 in the second quarter of 2015, compared with USD 1.8m in Q2 2014. Revenues in the period decreased to USD 342,000 from USD 415,000 in the same period in 2014, due primarily to a reduction in average selling price partially offset by an increase in volume sold.

During the quarter, the company completed construction of its USD 145m bio-succinic acid production plant in Sarnia, Ontario / Canada – see Plasteurope.com of 06.07.2015 – which produces the material using a sustainable fermentation process. Jean-Francois Huc, BioAmber’s CEO, said: “Completing construction was a major milestone for the company. Commissioning is progressing well and we expect to be in commercial operation this quarter. We are seeing an acceleration of bio-succinic acid’s use in polyurethanes, paints and coatings, with a growing number of customer product launches coinciding with our Sarnia plant coming into production.”

Research and development expenses in the second quarter increased to USD 5.0m from USD 4.3m for the same period in 2014. The increase was due primarily to a rise in non-recurring expenses related to the commissioning and start-up of the Sarnia plant. This was partially offset by stock-option compensation expenses related to stock option cancellations in the second quarter of 2014, which did not occur in 2015.

During the quarter, Bayer MaterialScience (Leverkusen / Germany; www.bayerbms.com) began commercialising a new range of polyurethanes for textiles that incorporated bio-succinic acid supplied by BioAmber – see Plasteurope.com of 29.04.2015. Textile and suede fabric producer Flokser (Istanbul / Turkey; www.flokser.com.tr) has launched an innovative synthetic leather fabric using bio-based materials supplied by DuPont Tate & Lyle BioProducts (Loudon, Tennessee / USA; www.duponttateandlyle.com) and BioAmber.