The Novvi joint venture was formed in 2011 by Emeryville, California-based Amyris Inc., a U.S. developer of renewable chemicals technology, and Brazilian sugar company Cosan S.A. The purpose of the joint venture was to use Amyris technology to turn sugar provided by Cosan into high-performance renewable base stocks. With ARG aboard, all three JV shareholder companies have equal shares.

Our partnership with American Refining Group will help accelerate our growth by providing the necessary resources to ensure manufacturing, supply and delivery capabilities to scale our business for volume and to meet customer expectations, Novvi CEO Jeff Brown said in a news release issued yesterday.

The company now makes base oil at a Texas manufacturing facility, said Bill Downey, Novvis senior vice president for business development. Given the growth Novvi has been experiencing, we will need to add production capacity to satisfy the requirements that our customers are forecasting, Downey said in an emailed statement. The ARG investment will give us additional capital, as well as additional channels for our products.

ARG CEO Tim Brown noted that the company is seeing a change in the hydrocarbon economy, coupled with performance requirements in the base oil industry. This is an opportunity for ARG to lead the market once again – this time with a renewable product, he said in a news release. The potential benefits cut across our base oil, finished lubricants, solvents and drilling fluids businesses.

In an interview with Lube Report, ARGs Brown said the company had looked at a variety of suppliers of hydrocarbons from non-petroleum sources. First and foremost, what was attractive to us is that Novvis technology is a hydrocarbon-based platform, he told Lube Report. From a chemistry standpoint, its very similar – the same as traditional hydrocarbons. Its just the way you get there is different. This is a traditional-looking hydrocarbon that is derived from biobased processes.

Amyris produces a renewable hydrocarbon, made from sugarcane feedstock, that can be finished to create base oils and lubricants.

ARGs Brown noted that much development work took place since Amyris and Cosan formed Novvi in 2011, both in the process and the products. Theyve really established a good customer base with where they are today, and a well-rounded product portfolio, relative to other technologies that we have looked at.

Novvis products will be available as raw materials that ARG can use in its lubricant blending. Products that would be based 100 percent on a Novvi base stock could go into an ARG product line for their private label customers as top-tier products, Downey said in a phone interview. Then there would be opportunities for us – depending on whether its an automotive or industrial application – to actually do blends of the products as well.

Brown said ARG can also provide the joint venture perspective from its experience with supply chain infrastructure. ARG adds a lot to that discussion both from an operations standpoint and from also from an engineering and plant operation standpoint, Downey said.

Downey pointed out that ARG has private label customers, and some direct customers. We feel like their position in the marketplace is going to accelerate our growth in selected channels, he said. Drilling fluids and solvents are two of the businesses where ARG has got a position in channels and position with customers where that is going to accelerate our growth and accelerate our relationships.

ARG operates the nations oldest continuously operating refinery in the United States, a Bradford, Pennsylvania, facility with crude throughput capacity of 11,000 barrels per day and a 2,400 b/d base oil plant. ARG also operates a lubricant blending plant at the same site.