Catalysis

Production of natural ingredients through microbial fermentation processes with engineered microbes. This company produces natural ingredients through microbial fermentation with their unique and proprietary engineered microorganisms. Their products include fermented vitamins and plant-derived bioactives. They aim to replace the chemistry and unsustainable agriculture involved in food production with biology. The concentration of active ingredients in natural sources, such as plants, is very low, resulting in a fragile, expensive, and environmentally invasive supply chain.

Production of chemical commodities through chemo-enzymatic cascade reactions. These chemo-enzymatic cascade reactions use a combination of chemical and biological catalysts for the production of basic and fine chemicals. They perform screenings of different biocatalysts to find which enzymes work best for each customer and optimize the selected enzyme to maximize sustainability and minimize cost. They also obtain substrates from renewable sources.

 

Olefin metathesis catalyst that converts renewable, natural oils into various products. Natural oil metathesis is a technology that transforms plant oils into high-performing, environmentally friendly specialty chemicals. This process uses a highly efficient, selective metathesis catalyst to derive value-added speacilty chemicals and olefins from natural oils. Compared to petrochemicals, this process reduces source pollution, energy consumption, production costs, and capital expenditures. The manufacturing process is low-pressure and low-temperature and can utilize virtually ant plant oil.

Biocatalytic process for the synthesis of esters. Esters are important ingredients in cosmetics and personal care products. Traditional esters manufacturing requires strong acids and potentially hazardous solvents and produces undesirable byproducts that require energy-intensive purification. Using immobilized enzymes at mild temperatures as an alternative, Eastmen saves energy and avoids dangerous chemicals. This process produces no undesirable by-products, and the enzymes are easily removable via filtration.

Enzymes and chemicals as chiral building blocks, intermediates, specialty chemicals, and recombinant enzymes. This company uses customized chemical synthesis and biocatalytic conversion to produce enzymes and chemicals as chiral building blocks, intermediates, specialty chemicals, and recombinant enzymes. These enzymes are suitable for research and development, diagnostics, and industrial production. Custom enzymes reduce complex synthesis processes into a single biocatalytic step, allowing for operation in milder conditions, product selectivity, and lower physiological toxicity.

Catalysts for the production of hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is generally clean and environmentally friendly, but its conventional production is not. The conventional production of hydrogen peroxide uses several toxic reagents. This novel method uses a metal catalyst, NxCat, to produce hydrogen peroxide directly from oxygen and hydrogen gases and only produces water as a byproduct. The process is also cost-effective and less energy-intensive. The catalyst is also manufactured from safe and renewable feedstocks.

Activator chemicals that work with hydrogen peroxide to replace chlorine bleaches. TAML™ (tetraamido-macrocyclic ligand activators) activators can be used to prepare wood pulp for papermaking and remove stains from laundry. This technology eliminates chlorinated byproducts from wastewater streams and saves energy and water. This process minimizes pollution by employing reagents and processes that mimic those found in nature. More specifically, Terry Collins developed activators with the natural oxidant hydrogen peroxide.

Carbon-negative alcohols and fuels. AIRMADE™ is patented process that imitates photosynthesis. It uses renewable energy to convert excessive carbon dioxide into carbon-negative alcohols and fuels with only oxygen as a by product. Carbon dioxide is captured from industrial plants before they are emitted into the atmospher and is cooled, pressurized, and liquified. Hydrogen is produced with renewable energy through on-site electrolysis; an electrolyzer splits water into hydrogen, yielding oxygen gas a byproduct that is simply released into the air.

The Catalytic BioForming® Process converts aqueous carbohydrate solutions into mixtures of "drop-in" hydrocarbons. These hydrocarbon molecules are derived from renewable feedstocks but are equivalent to those found in petroleum products. These hydrocarbons are scalable because they maintain market acceptance; these molecules can be blended with existing infrastructure to produce premium-quality gasoline, diesel, or jet fuel. Fuels produced from these sustainable hydrocarbons are more energy efficient and have lower life-cycle carbon emissions than crude oil fuels.

The Plantrose® Process is a water-based technology platform that converts plants into powerful ingredients. It converts water to a supercritical state to break down plants into foundational ingredients that can be used for various applications. The plants that are used in this process are sustainably grown and harvested. The ingredients from these broken down plants can be used in everyday consumer products and industrial applications. Using water instead of other chemicals also lowers costs.