Oct 1 2007
Metabolix, Inc., a bioscience company focused on developing clean, sustainable solutions for plastics, fuels, and chemicals, announced today that it has received an Advanced Technology Program (ATP) award from the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The $2 million award will be used by Metabolix to develop a commercially viable process for producing biobased chemicals from renewable agricultural products, rather than from fossil hydrocarbons such as oil or coal.
"This ATP award will fund Metabolix's Integrated Bio-Engineered Chemicals (IBEC) program, which is beginning development of clean, sustainable solutions for widely-used four-carbon industrial chemicals," said Dr. Oliver Peoples, co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Metabolix. "The program is designed to create an entire class of biobased routes for producing important industrial chemical intermediates, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and providing the nation with competitive advantages in polymers, chemicals and agriculture, all while reducing adverse environmental impacts."
Metabolix's IBEC projects will bio-engineer bacteria to produce polymers similar to Mirel(TM) bioplastic through the fermentation of plant-derived sugars. The produced polyesters will then be converted into a variety of four-carbon (C4) industrial chemicals. Today, C4 chemicals are produced almost entirely from fossil-based hydrocarbons such as oil or coal and are used in products such as auto parts, spandex, polyurethanes, engineering resins and solvents.
"Global demand for C4 industrial chemicals is estimated at 2.5 billion pounds annually, and growing at a rate of 4 to 5 percent a year," said Jay Kouba, Chairman and CEO of Metabolix. "The development and production of biobased chemicals represents the advancement of Metabolix's multiple platform strategy to develop sustainable fuels, and chemicals in addition to Mirel bioplastics."
The ATP program, part of the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), provides cost-shared funding to industry-led teams, including non-profits and universities, to help advance R&D projects that have the potential to spark important, broad-based economic or social benefits for the United States. ATP awards are made on the basis of rigorous competitive peer review considering scientific and technical merit of each proposal. The program accelerates enabling technology research, but does not support product development work.