Are Ionic Liquids Enabling Technology? Startup to Scale-Up to Find Out

Abstract

Commercialization of new sustainable technology from academia to industry is based on the technology-enabling innovation, the manufacturability, the implementation cost, and the technology's competitive advantage, such as function-ality improvement(s) over the routine process or existing products. Future-minded thinking outside the accepted margins and innovative execution are involved in creating new markets. The majority of this chapter is dedicated to our experiences in pursuing the transition of ionic liquids (ILs)-based technology from academia to industry for the extraction of chitin ((C 8 H 13 O 5 N) n), the second most abundant biopolymer on the planet, directly from shrimp shells. While the dissolution and extraction of chitin was demonstrated as early as 2010, the necessity of using an IL presented hurdles for scaling the technology to a commercial level. The resultant chitin polymer could be extracted while maintaining its high-molecular weight and providing materials with high strength and unique control of the final form. In 2012, a Laboratory Demonstration Pilot Unit (LDPU) was built and tested, followed by further scale-up to a mini-pilot plant in 2014-2015 with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. Currently, this mini-pilot plant provides the groundwork for the construction of a larger plant for a scaled-up chitin extraction by Mari Signum, Mid-Atlantic. This will allow the generation of sufficient supplies of chitin and create new markets for this polymer. The high quality of the polymer and the ability to produce high-value products from it will give Mari Signum, Mid-Atlantic a competitive advantage not only to enter multiple focused profitable markets but also to create new markets. Once the polymer becomes available on a large-scale not only will the price decrease, but it will become available for the invention of additional products. When large-scale supply is available, it will provide confidence to investors due to RDR is president of 525 Solutions, Inc. and has partial ownership of 525 Solutions, Inc. RDR has a former ownership in Mari Signum, Mid-Atlantic, LLC. RDR and JLS are named inventors on related patents and applications. JLS is a former employee of 525 Solutions, Inc. and a former CTO of Mari Signum, Mid-Atlantic, LLC.