Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Itaconix licenses UNH green polymer-making tech

By Mass High Tech Staff

The University of New Hampshire reports it has licensed “green” chemistry technology to Itaconix LLC, of New Hampshire. The technology was developed at UNH’s Nanostructured Polymers Research Center.
Under the license, Itaconix will be able to use the school’s process for creating environmentally friendly polymers derived from renewable resources.  The technology was developed by UNH graduate student Ming Cao. Cao won second place in this year’s Paul J. Holloway Business Prize Competition.

Itaconix was founded by Yvon Durant, associate research professor in material sciences, and John Shaw, president of Kensington Research Inc., to develop renewable polymers for commercial use. The company said it plans to use the technology to develop poly(itaconic acid) to replace petroleum-based chemicals in detergents and other applications.

Last month, UNH’s New Hampshire Innovation Research Center announced it is seeking proposals for funding partnership projects. The organization expects to award four to eight Granite State Technology Innovation Grants from a wide-ranging pool of $20,000 to $150,000 per grant. The grant RFP is open to any discipline, but the organization stresses particular interest in bioinformatics, computational tools, environmental technologies, geospatial analysis, information technology, materials science, medical technologies, nanotechnology, optics, precision engineering, robotics and sensors.

In April, a team of University of New Hampshire business and engineering students won first place in their task at the 2008 Environmental Design Contest at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, N.M. The team, Retrolutions, retrofitted an existing commercial building to reduce its environmental footprint.