Catalytic Synthesis of Lactate Salts from Waste Glycerol

Catapower Inc. is a cleantech chemical company with proprietary catalytic technology that converts glycerol into value-added lactate salts. In alignment with NIFA's topic area "Biofuels and Biobased Products" we upgrade waste glycerol from the biodiesel industry. Our technology provides approximately a 10x value increase vs. today's low-value glycerol outlets. We estimate a potential value to biofuel manufacturers of approximately $0.90 / gallon biodiesel produced - a similar magnitude as the RFS credit. Further our bio-derived lactate salts may be used in the agriculture industry including as organic fertilizers and in food preservation in addition to other non- agrichemical applications such as personal care products. We request NIFA's support of the basic chemical engineering R&D required to translate our prior lab-scale successes into a pilot-scale demonstration. Specifically our goals are to design and test chemical reactor and subsequent recovery technology (1) capable of lactate production in 10 kg batches and (2) amenable to continued scale-up efforts beyond the scope of Phase I support. Additionally we aim to improve our already-favorable process economics by laying the technical foundation for utilizing the valuable hydrogen that we co-produce. Finally we will leverage SBIR funding to pursue customer relationships in order to facilitate early revenues after progressing in our scale-up goals. To realize this vision we will adopt an experimental approach in our laboratory facility with technical and business insight provided by our experienced team. The results from the experimental trials will feed into our technoeconomic model ensuring that all innovations further our progress towards commercial viability.