Project Grant 20203361032001

Exopolymer, Inc. received a $648,366 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Project Grant from the Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture to develop new fermentation-derived biopolymer ingredients. Under this two-year award running from September 2021 to August 2023, Exopolymer will finalize the commercial development of one or more biopolymer products that outperform hyaluronic acid in moisture binding and skin penetration performance. Work will include...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Convergence Accelerator Track M award of $649,990 to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) supports the development and commercialization of a family of sustainable bio-based plastics derived from hydroxy fatty acids. Key activities include scaling up monomer synthesis, conducting polymer characterization and recycling assessments, and performing techno-economic and life cycle analyses. RPI is collaborating with Danimer Scientific, a bioplastics...

This Cooperative Agreement award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) program provides $2,572,498 to Purdue University to develop new bioplastics with diverse properties. The project aims to computationally design complex enzymes within engineered bacteria to produce novel, sturdy bioplastics that can withstand high temperatures and be easily recycled or biodegraded. The award includes sub-grants to Twist Bioscience...

This federal Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049) is providing $1.1M to Purdue University and subawardees to develop sustainable, hemp-derived bioplastics with exceptional properties and recyclability. The goal is to accelerate the displacement of legacy petrochemical-based plastics, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and microplastics. The project will investigate novel hemp-derived monomers to synthesize a variety of...

This Project Grant award provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation (CFDA 47.041 Engineering) will support the development of novel manufacturing principles for high-performance, sustainable packaging films from hierarchically reinforced biopolymers. The $374,160 award to North Carolina State University aims to enable the production of natural material-based films that match or exceed the properties of synthetic polymer films,...

This $465,000 National Science Foundation project grant supports research at the University of Southern California to advance sustainable methods for producing conjugated polymers. Led by Professor Barry C. Thompson, the research aims to enhance the sustainability of direct arylation polymerization, a controlled and atom-efficient process for synthesizing semiconducting organic polymers with applications in optoelectronics. The project will investigate mechanistic features of the catalytic...

This $300,000 Project Grant awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Chemistry aims to develop novel polymeric materials based on segmented polar-polyolefin copolymers with complex architectures. Professors Eva Harth at the University of Houston and Krzysztof Matyjaszewski at Carnegie Mellon University are collaborating on this 3-year effort, which seeks to advance energy storage materials and plastic upcycling capabilities. The key products and services to be delivered...

This $300,000 National Science Foundation project grant, funded under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074), supports the development of a new manufacturing process to convert carbon dioxide into bioplastics and design bioplastic composites. Texas A&M Agrilife Research, in collaboration with The Texas A&M University System, will establish an electrochemistry-bioconversion hybrid system to efficiently and cost-effectively produce polyhydroxyalkanoates from CO2. Researchers will...

This Project Grant awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Program (CFDA 47.049) provides $250,000 to support the synthesis of innovative polymeric materials using biologically inspired nanoparticles called "bundlemers". Professors Christopher J. Kloxin and Darrin J. Pochan at the University of Delaware will leverage the unique features of bundlemers to precisely position molecular species and enable the creation of new complex...

This Project Grant award for $275,000 from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) program supports the development and validation of a biodegradable biopolymer platform to replace conventional plastic and PFAS-based coatings for paper-based packaging. The awardee, Retrn Bioworks Inc., is utilizing a novel fermentation process to produce high-performance poly-4-hydroxybutyrate (P4HB) copolymers from lignocellulosic waste feedstocks. The...