Rivertop Renewables Tops Glucarate Production Estimate

Rivertop Renewables, a Missoula, MT-based chemicals company, exceeded the nameplate capacity of its first commercial production facility during benchmark testing. At full capacity the plant, operated by DTI in Danville, VA, is  capable of producing more than nine million dry pounds of sodium glucarate product a year, an increase of approximately 15% over original design projections. Additionally, last month the plant received its first supplier “Recommended” rating in a quality and supply chain audit by a leading water treatment industry customer.

 
“Construction, start up and full-capacity runs at the DTI facility have gone extremely well,” said Mike Knauf, chief executive officer of Rivertop. “The pace of our efforts is proving not only the breakthrough efficiency of Rivertop’s technology, but also the low capex requirements for our proprietary manufacturing process.”

 
The capacity at the DTI facility will allow Rivertop to expand sales of its existing products as well as provide customers quantities suitable for joint development and testing, according to Rivertop. The success of this facility is the first step and Rivertop plans to build additional plants to transform renewable plant sugars into a variety of sustainable, cost-competitive chemical products.

 
“We are pleased that we have been able to exceed original production volume design with the capabilities we have here at DTI,” said Paul Bacon, President of DTI, a custom manufacturer of fine and specialty chemical products that partnered with Rivertop to build and operate the facility. “It’s a testament to the quality, effort and collaboration of the technical teams from both companies, and we couldn’t be happier with the performance.”
 

Construction of Rivertop’s facility at DTI began in December of 2014 and the first commercial production runs of glucarate-based products began in August of 2015. Among the products being produced are Riose detergent builder, a sugar-derived chelant that meets high performance standards and enables a lower total cost of formulation for dishwasher and laundry detergents, 
 

The first sugar acid products produced at the facility are salts of glucaric acid, recognized by the US Department of Energy as one of the top 12 “value added chemicals from biomass.” Traditional pathways of producing glucaric, other sugar acids and their salts have been costly, energy intensive and environmentally challenging, relegating their use to pharmaceutical and nutraceutical applications. By applying proven science to renewable resources, Rivertop is creating an abundant and far more economical supply of glucarate products and other green chemicals and bioproducts.