SBIR Phase II: Renewable Cellulosic Emulsions and Applications

The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Innovat6ion Research (SBIR) Phase II project are in addressing the emerging global need to lower the carbon footprint by offering sustainable products with lower carbon emissions. This project allows for validation, optimization, and scale of aqueous cellulosic emulsions to displace high carbon petroleum-based emulsions. Commercial manufacturers are enabled to switch to green materials, meeting regulatory restrictions while eradicating petroleum, a nonrenewable resource that contributes significantly to emissions. Commercial and market impacts include non-toxic alternatives, a reduction of emissions for packaging and building products, and cost parity with current alternatives. Societal impacts include improved health outcomes as air quality improves. Sustainable adhesives are predicted to displace currently used toxic materials in up to 50% of all industrial solutions. This project will benefit society by reducing the carbon footprint and launching a new field to entrepreneurs and established companies alike to train the next generation in moving away from fossil fuels, catalyzing new technologies informed by public policy. Today, the US Military has deemed climate change a national security threat; thus, this work will enhance national security by providing a pathway to move away from fossil fuels. This project is focused on developing sustainable, aqueous emulsions and binders to help manufacturers of packaging and building materials to meet goals in the reduction of Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions by 10-30% and displacing petroleum-based materials by up to 100% by 2030. This project proposes to create, test, and scale working prototypes of cellulosic emulsions that can be tested in a pilot environment to displace petroleum-based binder products. The Phase I award allowed for risk mitigation in the creation of a stable cellulosic emulsion that is sustainable, cost-effective, with characterization and test data that is compatible with standard petroleum-based emulsion products. In Phase II, technical hurdles will be addressed and mitigated, including enhanced functionality and optimization with performance metrics as the gate keepers to innovation. Further, the emulsions will be scaled for pilot testing with customers. Successful commercialization will be a prototype that can be assessed with customers on a pilot scale prior to a full manufacturing scale up. This project includes several steps for dissolution, extraction, and purification methods to be implemented to optimize one process for each step. The project will help customers to reduce their carbon footprint using a drop-in, low cost, solution to petroleum-based alternatives. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.