Rentech announces start-up of Atikokan pellet mill

October 30, 2014, Los Angeles, Calif. – Rentech announced that
start-up of the Atikokan wood pellet facility has begun. During the next few
weeks, the plant will undergo safety inspections, equipment testing and final
commissioning.

Sean Ebnet, senior vice president of Rentech’s wood fibre
business, said, “I’m pleased to reach this important milestone at the Atikokan
facility. Our Canadian team has done a superb job managing the construction of
Rentech’s first two pellet plants, through one of the worst winters on record.
We are excited about beginning operations and bringing jobs back to these
communities. The staff we have assembled at both facilities has deep experience
operating large fibre mills, and includes the key members of the teams that ran
the Atikokan and Wawa mills when they operated as fiberboard and oriented
strand board facilities.”

The company expects the Atikokan facility to produce pellets
in the coming weeks. The existing arrangement of delivering third-party pellets
to Ontario Power Generation (OPG) will be curtailed as the Atikokan facility
ramps up production. The total design capacity of the Atikokan wood pellet
facility is 100,000 tonnes. Under the terms of the long-term contract, OPG will
purchase 45,000 tonnes of pellets annually from the Atikokan facility at the
plant gate. The remaining output will be available for sale to OPG or other
customers.

Delays in equipment deliveries by certain vendors have
prolonged construction and start-up of the Canadian pellet plants.
Commissioning and start-up of the Wawa facility are expected to begin in
November and continue through the end of the year, with production to follow.
The first shipment of pellets to Drax is expected to occur in the second
quarter of 2015, in coordination with Drax’s ship schedule. All major equipment
is in place at Wawa, and certain critical items, including the drying system,
bark furnace and both log cranes, have already been commissioned and are
operational. Other than the equipment delivery delays, construction of both
projects has proceeded as planned.