STTR Phase I: High performance polymers from biomass

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project addresses the need for obtaining sustainable sources of chemicals and fuels. This proposal aims to solve the problem in the context of a chemical with uses in high performance polymers with total addressable market in excess of $7 billion per year. A key requirement of such processes is high efficiency of conversion for economic viability. We propose an integrated bio-thermochemical platform for production of a monomer which can be used for production of unsaturated polyester resins. The polymer properties can be fine-tuned by copolymerizing our monomer with other monomers so as to achieve desired cost and performance needs. The intellectual merit of this project is in the high yield bioprocess coupled with selective chemical conversion to develop an economically viable bio-based process for production of a bulk chemical. The proposed research would involve testing of various catalysts for polymerization of the monomer along with other co-monomers, followed by characterization of these polymer formulations. Another aspect of the work would be screening of downstream processing methods for producing monomer at desired specification. Upon full development, the process could produce a bulk chemical at half the current market price, and with renewable sources as the raw inputs. This would translate to lower cost to end customers and a 70% reduction in greenhouse gas footprint relative to existing petro-based process.