Recipient Organization
CATAPOWER INC
4676 ADMIRALTY WAY
MARINA DEL REY,CA 902926606
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Catapower Inc. is a cleantech chemical company with proprietary catalytic technology that converts glycerol into value-added lactate salts. In alignment with NIFA's topic area "Biofuels and Biobased Products," we upgrade waste glycerol from the biodiesel industry. Our technology provides approximately a 10x value increase vs. today's low-value glycerol outlets. We estimate a potential value to biofuel manufacturers of approximately $0.90 / gallon biodiesel produced - a similar magnitude as the RFS credit. Further, our bio-derived lactate salts may be used in the agriculture industry, including as organic fertilizers and in food preservation, in addition to other non-agrichemical applications such as personal care products.We request NIFA's support of the basic chemical engineering R&D required to translate our prior, lab-scale successes into a pilot-scale demonstration. Specifically, our goals are to design and test chemical reactor and subsequent recovery technology (1) capable of lactate production in 10 kg batches, and (2) amenable to continued scale-up efforts beyond the scope of Phase I support. Additionally, we aim to improve our already-favorable process economics by laying the technical foundation for utilizing the valuable hydrogen that we co-produce. Finally, we will leverage SBIR funding to pursue customer relationships in order to facilitate early revenues after progressing in our scale-up goals.To realize this vision, we will adopt an experimental approach in our laboratory facility, with technical and business insight provided by our experienced team. The results from the experimental trials will feed into our technoeconomic model, ensuring that all innovations further our progress towards commercial viability.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
50%
Developmental
50%
Goals / Objectives
Under Phase I USDA SBIR support, Catapower will accomplish the following five objectives:Demonstrate a 10 kg scale catalytic process. Proof-of-principle trials were previously conducted at the 1 kg scale, where both the physical phenomena and the equipment are fundamentally different than they will be at manufacturing-scale deployment. We must also be able to refine the crude product at the same scale to meet customer specifications. The key question supporting this objective is:What types of reactor configurations (e.g., immobilized catalyst in a plug flow reactor, continuous stirred tank, etc.) enable scalable achievement of the same high yields and selectivities observed in laboratory trials?What methods enable removal of trace organics from lactates to reach typical customer requirements?Capture and characterize the hydrogen coproduct. Although the economic viability of Catapower's technology does not depend on monetizing the coproduced hydrogen, we acknowledge that it represents an additional valuable resource - either as a saleable product or as fuel for on-site heating. Key questions supporting this objective are:What process controls should be implemented to allow safe capture of the hydrogen coproduct?What is the composition of this crude gas stream, and what components (if any) will need to be removed before its use or sale?Pursue customer relationships by advancing supplier status. In accomplishing the objectives above, Catapower must also ensure that customers are available to purchase a product that meets their needs. Doing so requires continuing to deepen our understanding of the following questions:What application-specific requirements do potential customers have for lactate products?How may Catapower advance the process of qualifying as a supplier for lactate distributors (i.e.: potential customers)?
Project Methods
The Methods are described extensively in Catapower's submitted proposal, including milestones and success indicators. Briefly, Catapower's efforts will use well-established tools in laboratory chemical synthesis to conduct experiments targeting improved yield, efficiency, and operational performance of the novel manufacturing methods. These experiments will be evaluated using other well-established tools to judge the impact of systematic process modifications, including NMR spectroscopy and ICP-OES analysis.