USDA awards $3 million grant for biomass-based chemicals

In Georgia, Meridian Waste Solutions, Inc. announced the award of a $3 million grant from the USDA to support the commercialization of patented and patent-pending lignin conversion and refining technologies owned by Meridian’s subsidiary, Attis Innovations, Inc. Attis Innovations is the combination of recent transactions with American Science and Technology Corp. and Advanced Lignin Biocomposites LLC.

To address this challenge, a team comprising Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Tennessee’s Center for Renewable Carbon, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, the Natural Resource Research Institute, Long Trail Sustainability, and Attis’ research and development unit, American Science and Technology Corporation, presented the U.S. Department of Agriculture with a pathway based on Attis’ technology to allow biorefineries to compete with petroleum.

That pathway relies on Attis’ patented and patent-pending AST-Organosolv process to fractionate biomass into cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, followed by the conversion of cellulose and hemicellulose into biofuel (butanol), and the conversion of lignin into acrylonitrile-butadiene-lignin (ABL Resin) using technology developed and patented by Oak Ridge National Laboratory and licensed to Attis.

The resulting ABL Resin product is proven to be a higher-performing renewable offset for the petroleum-derived resin acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS). With a market value of $1,500 to $2,400 per ton, abundant low-cost feedstock supplies, and robust multi-sector offset demand, Attis’ new ABL Resin product has the potential to make a significant and valuable contribution to reducing U.S. dependence on petroleum-derived chemicals and fuels.