ZymoChem Resumes $5M Bio-Manufacturing Program
Specialty chemicals company ZymoChem recently announced the resumption and expansion of its federal research portfolio. The company has been notified that previously paused work under a $5 million U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) program is officially back on, to be joined by continuing collaborations with three of the nation's premier national laboratories. The company is dedicated to bringing decarbonization, sustainability, and supply chain resiliency to the chemical industry through innovative biological manufacturing.
ZymoChem’s most recent government award represents $4 million in federal funding and a $1 million program cost share directed at rebuilding domestic supply chains for high-performance materials without the petroleum, the emissions, or the geopolitical exposure of the incumbent process.
With the DOE award and cost share totaling $5 million, ZymoChem will lead a consortium that includes Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts Process Development Unit (LBL-ABPDU) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), working on fermentation scale-up and process development, and techno-economic and life-cycle analyses.
The work targets the production of bio-based intermediates that serve as drop-in replacements for petroleum-derived precursors in high-performance polymers. These are categories with a combined global market measured in tens of millions of tons annually.
“This funding is a vote of confidence in American biomanufacturing at a moment when it matters," said Harshal Chokhawala, PhD, CEO and Co-Founder of ZymoChem. "Decarbonizing the chemical industry is not a science problem alone. It's a supply chain problem, an industrial policy problem, and a national security problem. We are grateful to our partners in the U.S. Government and the national labs for backing America’s future.”
To learn about ZymoChem, visit zymochem.com.
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