Telles

Metabolix and Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) are commercializing Mirel through a joint venture called Telles. The first commercial-scale Mirel production plant is adjacent to ADM's wet corn mill in Clinton, Iowa. The plant is now ramping up production and will have commercial product available for customers in April 2010.

The Production Facility

Constructed by ADM, the plant is a proprietary, large-scale microbial fermentation system for producing bioplastics. The microbial fermentation system combines proprietary engineered microbes with sugar and other materials in a fermenter. The microbes digest the sugar and produce the bioplastics within their cells. Then the bioplastics are separated from the microbes and formulated into Mirel resins for commercial sale.