US industrial bioscience company Amyris has agreed a multi-year extension to its farnesene collaboration with long-term partner Kuraray. The agreement relates to the use of Amyris’s Biofene branded beta-farnesene used in liquid farnesene rubber (LFR) and elastomer applications.

“Kuraray’s technical expertise and customer relationships have reached the point where their products are now becoming mainstream and this, in turn, is fuelling further broadening market adoption of our farnesene for a variety of products,” said John Melo, CEO of Amyris.

Derived from sugar cane, Biofene is the basis for a wide range of products including cosmetics, perfumes, detergents, industrial lubricants, diesel and jet fuel.

The Japanese company has had recent technological success with LFR and other rubber materials that contain farnesene, which are said to add substantial grip and cornering capability to tires, particularly in cold weather and snow and ice conditions.  Commercial tires using Amyris’s LFR are expected to become available in 2017.

In addition, Kuraray’s hydrogenated styrenic-farnesene copolymer (HSFC) has shown superior shock absorption in products ranging from footwear to specialty construction materials.

President of Kuraray’s isoprene business, Kenichi Abe, said Amyris’s breakthrough ability to produce farnesene at industrial scale and at a competitive price has enabled the Tokyo-headquartered group to provide products with superior performance that are renewably sourced.