Lignin to Aromatic Polyols

Use: Rigid and flexible foams
Data: Up to 90% lower process emissions

Lignin is one of the most abundant organic polymers on earth, and one of the hardest to commercialise.

Our first catalyst breaks it down selectively into aromatic polyols, a high-volume building block for performance materials.

Applications

What this unlocks

Drop-in aromatic polyols for rigid and flexible polyurethane foam formulations.

An aromatic structure gives properties other biobased feedstocks cannot, and it performs against the most widely used flame retardant.

Foam structures with acoustic damping suited to automotive and building applications.

Benefits

What this allows

Drop-in compatible

Made to the specifications foam producers already work to, so biobased content does not mean a step down in performance.

Built-in performance

The aromatic structure brings flame resistance, acoustic absorption and mechanical strength to the foam itself, reducing the need for costly, hazardous additives.

Cost-competitive

A mild, efficient process makes our polyols cost-competitive with petrochemical alternatives.

Working with lignin, or buying polyols?

We are building relationships across the value chain, from biorefineries and lignin producers through to foam manufacturers and end users.

Get in touch

Developed with the Level Nine platform

Platform

Abstract render of translucent blue and green blocks

There are more possible catalyst designs than a laboratory could make in a lifetime. Searching that space by hand is why catalyst development has historically taken years.

Machine learning generates and screens candidates against activity, structure and synthetic route, compressing that work into months. Every design still has to survive the bench, and that is where the answer actually comes from.

A platform, not just one product

One catalyst is a result. A repeatable way of producing them is a different proposition, and it is the difference between a company with a product and a company with a method.

Our routes start from different feedstocks and end at different molecules. The same platform produced both, and each one tests a capability the next can use.

Designed from first principles

The usual answer to a fragile enzyme is to improve it. That keeps the protein, and the protein is what makes it fragile in the first place.

We model the small part that does the catalytic work, then rebuild it as a synthetic structure designed for industrial conditions. Not an improved enzyme. A different kind of catalyst.