Biobased acrylonitrile company founded in Alabama

In Alabama, a venture capital firm and a nonprofit research organization have founded a biobased chemicals company. Dubbed Trillium Renewable Chemicals, the company will leverage funding from Belgium’s Capricorn Partners and acrylonitrile production process technology licensed from Southern Research. 

Acrylonitrile and its derivatives are found in many consumer and industrial goods like clothing, toys, car parts, sporting goods, paints, soaps, and other valuable materials.

 “The Southern Research team developed an innovative, elegant thermo-catalytic process that utilizes biomass derived sugars or glycerol, allowing for the use of a variety of biomass feedstocks, to produce acrylonitrile and other co-products,” Amit Goyal, lead inventor from Southern Research, says in a press statement. “This process has the potential to improve economics and the overall environmental footprint of downstream products that utilize acrylonitrile as a raw material.”

Trillium and Southern Research will continue to work jointly on the process development, while Trillium will team up with strategic partners for the scale up and deployment of the technology.

Capricorn Partners has invested from its Capricorn Sustainable Chemistry Fund. The proceeds will be used to scale up the process for the manufacturing of acrylonitrile and glycols.