SBIR Phase II: Soft Foam Polyurethanes from Algae Oil

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是通过开发可生物降解的聚氨酯单体，帮助解决不可生物降解塑料污染地球的问题，这些单体的配方为其应用提供了行业标准的性能指标。 今天，每个活着的人都积累了2,600磅的塑料垃圾，每年至少有180亿磅的塑料进入我们的海洋。 由于成本高、质量低，可持续产品尚未大规模商业化。 我们将通过高性能生物降解材料的商业化和高价值消费品的开发来改变聚氨酯行业。该项目旨在通过利用藻类多元醇及其配方化学来解决消费品中缺乏生物基材料的问题，开发和优化适当的生物基配方，特别是聚氨酯泡沫，供消费者用作鞋类。 该公司将证明该产品的生物降解性。 该公司还将开发藻类原材料的供应链和相关工艺，以大规模生产藻类多元醇。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to help address the issue of non-bio degradable plastics polluting the planet through the development of biodegradable urethane monomers, formulations yielding industry standard performance metrics for their application. There are 2,600 pounds of plastic trash accumulated for each living person today, with at least 18 billion pounds of plastic entering our oceans every year. Sustainable products have yet to be commercialized at scale due to high cost and low quality. We will change the urethane industry through the commercialization of high-performance biodegradable materials and development of high value consumer products.This project proposes to address the lack of biologically based materials in consumer products by utilizing algae polyols, and their formulation chemistries, to develop and optimize appropriate bio-based formulations, specifically polyurethane foams, for consumer use as footwear. The company will demonstrate biodegradability of the product. The company will also develop the supply chain and associated processes for their algae raw materials to produce algae polyols at scale.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.