Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/21

Outputs
Target Audience:Our main target audience are customers for foodservice items, with a focus on customers interested in the niche of compostable foodservice packaging. We are currently engaged with one of the world's largest packaging and materials companies, multiple packaging brokers, and also a top-10 fast food chain. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We have been able to train a number of technicians and junior engineers in process development. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We are engaged in the Plug N' Play New materials accelerator, and engaged with a number of large corporate clients interested in food packaging. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?This is our final report, but we believe we will successfully commercialize the technology over the next 2 years!

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1 - Prototypes were produced that generated enough interest to get an $85k pilot order with a top-10 fast food chain. We were informed that we may be the only commercially viable, insulating cup technology available by a top-10 fast food chain and one of the world's largest cup producers. Objective 2 - We produced cups that use 10 grams of material using industrial-scale equipment, and created partially finished cups that use 5 grams of material. We produed a unit economic model showing that these cups could be produced for 3-4 cents, while the current "specialty" wholesale price for compostable cups is 10 cents. Objective 3 - We were approved to apply for a USDA 9003 Phase II Loan Guarantee, which will enable scaling with a commercial partner. We found that customers may only be interested once we have scaled the technology.

Publications

Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20

Outputs
Target Audience:Grow Plastics (Now renamed to Corumat, Inc) has experience creating prototype products, generating proof of concept, and generating pilot orders for target market and customers. While the target product is used almost universally, the supply chain to get into the consumer's hands must be navigated. Lenders - Grow Plastics (Now Corumat) is engaged with investors and debt financing to scale technology beyond pilot phase, including approval for Phase II of a USDA 9003 loan guarantee, that requiresdemonstrationoperational reliability and product consistency over a pre-determined 120day window. Distributors - Distributors need to be convinced that a supply of products is available and that there is market demand. Grow Plastics will convince distributors by engaging with manufacturers, and market demand by engaging with customers. Customers - Customers purchase from distributors, and through brokers in the target market. Grow Plastics will engage with large customers in the target market, and request that they request our products from their distributors. End users - The target product is used by end-users that are supplied by "customers" that actually pay for the product. Grow Plastics will ensure that these users are educated in the utility of the product through marketing, and also by providing small displays to potential customers for use. Changes/Problems:Following relocation of the pilot line, broad temperature swings due to geographic location was problematic as product became inconsistent with less predictable mechanical and visual properties. High temperature peaks during the day led to inconsistent material generated and triggered necessary updates to our machine to improve temperature stability and monitoring. Ultimately, these updates generated critical learning for Grow Plastics product consistency required by our customers and partners, and consequently enabled operation speeds to be increased for higher throughput. We've resolved this issue through superior process control! A new and unprecedented problem encountered during this reporting period was a global pandemic that caused $900k in investment to "pause" negotiation. To accommodate this hurdle, Corumat had to reduce executive salaries by 25%, but have still hit our milestones to date. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?A Grow Plastics (now Corumat)technician was specifically hired to contribute to the support of this work plan and development of QC techniques for identifying product and operational consistency. He had one-on-one mentoring with the Principal Investigator and operations team on expansion processing and laboratory measures for product performance evaluation. He assists in quality tracking, observations, and data analysis. This roleunderwentboth laboratory training, safety training, pilot system crosstraining and supported R&D expansionruns. Grow Plastics (Corumat) also hired an electromechanical engineer to supplement automation and instrumentation updates in support of the Founder/CEO focus shifting towards fundraising needs post Phase II workplan.Following pilot consistency demonstrations, and scaling activities Grow Plastics will rollout itstraining program that is under development for partners and joint venture groups to ensure smooth collaborative manufacturing and facility conversion in future deployments. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results and samples of the expanded material and food packaging products have been shared with our manufacturing partner in agricultural packaging for continuous feedback, interested distribution partners, investors and lenders, as well as our Top-10 fast-food chain customer for strategic and market feedback. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?• Pilot demonstration of consistency for USDA 9003 Loan guarantee program • Increased throughput and yield measures of products design forcups and other foodservice items • Market launch of fast-food service items for initial market feedback • Bridge round offundraising to overcome hurdles in Series A fundraising due to the global pandemic

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1: Refine Product blend and processing to enhance aesthetics and generate prototypes for market feedback: Grow Plastics (now Corumat) successfully relocated to their partner manufacturing facility, which has provided access to, and guidance from tooling experts (full machine shop and tooling manufacturer with 40+ years of experience). Grow Plastics has since made substantial iterations in processing conditions and machinery, enabling a steady increase in operational uptime, material throughput, as well asmethods to measureconsistency. Objective 2: Convert lab results to pilot-scale processing, and refine cost model demonstrating competitive pricing: The company has performed significant economic analysis on process and products that has: Allowed the company to raise angel funds by generating a credible financial model. The lead investor's day job is working as a material science investment banker. Been reviewed and supported by a top-10 fast food chain, recognizing that products will be economical enough to serve all their needs, resulting in multipledevelopmental orders to date Convinced a seasoned packaging manufacturing partner to allocate part of their factory for pilot manufacturing operations, with plans to convert more of their facility Passed review of Phase I and Phase II of USDA, and NSF SBIR grants. The company has passed review for Phase I of a 9003 loan program that included review by the USDA and Greater Nevada Credit Union (the lender on the project). A successful Phase II application and additional equity funding include 120 days of pilot operations. Objective 3: Market entry using existing channels from commercialization partners Pilot projects and funding from our Top-10 fast-food chain customer provided the means for Grow Plastics to gain professional insight into operating expenses, sales, and market projections needed for investor discussions on scale-up. The Top-10 fast-food chain customer has been critical in seed-series fundraising discussions, which successfully closed during this reporting period,accelerating team growth andscaling activities in preparation for larger pilot and full-scale demonstration. Grow Plastics is working with an existing manufacturer to demonstrate the integration of its system withstandard capital equipment, a key component to Phase II USDA 9003 Loan guarantee. Additionally, the preparation of the USDA 9003 loan guarantee application provided multiple reviews and acceptance of preliminaryfinancial models for growth. Additional updates to planned goals include: • Pilotprocessing regularity increased, validating numerous feedstock sources and consistency for suppliers, lenders, and customers • Validatedand selectedfeedstock sources identifiedspecifics in supply-chain stress, and created narrow metrics necessary toimprove the reliability of upstream material metrics • Iterations of cups have been implemented, improved upon, and demonstrated to customers for feedback. • Stockpile of material ready for Market launch demonstration of fast-food service items using industrial product forming machinery, for initial market feedback of consistency, performance, and cost • Initial seed-fundraising round has successfully closed

Publications

Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/19

Outputs
Target Audience: Grow Plastics (Now renamedto Corumat, Inc)has experience selling products into the target market. While the target product is used almost universally, thesupply chain to get into the consumer's hands must be navigated. Distributors - Distributors need to be convinced that a supply of products is available and that there is market demand. Grow Plastics will convince distributors by engaging with manufacturers, and market demand by engaging with customers. Customers - Customers purchase from distributors, and through brokers in the target market. Grow Plastics will engage with large customers in the target market, and request that they request our products from their distributors. End users - The target product is used by end-users that are supplied by "customers" that actually pay for the product. Grow Plastics will ensure that these users are educated in the utility of the product through marketing, and also by providing small displays to potential customers for use. Changes/Problems:Addition of new foodservice products, per customer pull and private development investment. Material supply evaluation: Demonstration of run-consistency of our products is required by our initial customers, and industry, more time will be allocated to quality, consistency, and performance metrics in order to satisfy customer and market demands. This includes both internal testing standards, comparative analysis, and market validation tests in the upcoming reporting period. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?A Grow Plasticstechnicianwas specifically hired to contribute to the support of this work plan and broader scopes of thermoforming support and product iteration. He had one-on-one mentoring with the Principal Investigator and operations team on expansion processing,thermoforming, and performance measurements. Heassists in expansion tests,observations, and data analysis. A laboratory technician role was also created to support quality tracking and materials evaluation for consistency and performance run to run. This rolewill undergo both laboratory training, safety training, thermoforming crosstraining, and expansion run support. Following pilot consistency demonstrations, and scaling activities Grow Plastics intends to build a training program for partners and joint venture groupsto ensure smooth collaborative manufacturing and facility conversion in future deployments. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results and samples of the expanded material and food packaging products have been shared with our manufacturing partner in agricultural packaging for continuous feedback, as well as our Top-10 fast-food chain customer for strategic and market feedback. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The next half of the reporting period involve: Increased pilot process testing to validate consistency for suppliers and customers Testing and validation of multiple feedstock sources to alleviate supply-chain stress and improve quality metrics Product design of cups and other foodservice items Market launch of fast-food service items for initial market feedback Initial seed-fundraising roundclosed

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1:Refine Product blend and processing to enhance aesthetics and generate prototypes for market feedback: Grow Plastics successfully relocatedto their partnermanufacturing facility, whichhas provided access to,and guidance fromtooling experts(full machine shop and tooling manufacturer with 40+ years of experience). Novel designs are underway for obtaining finalized productswith feel and aesthetics vocalized as desirable by customers and distributors. Objective 2:Convert lab results to pilot-scaleprocessing, and refine cost model demonstrating competitive pricing: The relocation of our Pilot line to co-locate with our manufacturing partnerhas provided accelerated progress in pilotexpansion testing, as well as new findings that we need to improve upon for run stability and consistency of products. Relocation to Southern Californiaallowed us to identify manufacturing requirements in a practical,non-labmanufacturing and warehouse space. Ultimately, these updates generated critical learning for Grow Plastics product consistency required by our customers and partners, and consequently enabled operation speeds to be increased for higher throughput. Additionally, Grow Plastics is now knowledgable and positioned for global-food-safety-initiative requirements,ultimately refining our business model and bringing operations needs within sight much earlier. Objective 3:Market entry using existing channels from commercialization partners Pilot projects and fundingfrom our Top-10 fast-food chain customer providedthe means for Grow Plastics to gain professional insight into operating expenses, sales and market projections needed for investor discussions on scale-up. The Top-10 fast-foodchain customer has been critical in seed-series fundraising discussions, to be closedby the end of 2019, which will help accelerate scaling activities beyond pilot demonstration. Grow Plastics is working with an existing manufacturer to showyou can retrofit an existingfacility and standard capital equipment. Following this demonstration, Grow Plastics will builda financial model showing that making a suite of expanded PLA food service itemsshould add significant value to existing facilities.

Publications