SBIR Phase I: Novel Membrane for Lactate Esterification

Information

• NSF Award
• 0611172

Owner

• MATERIALS MODIFICATION, INC.

• Award Id

  0611172

• Award Effective Date

  7/1/2006 - 20 years ago

• Award Expiration Date

  3/31/2007 - 19 years ago

• Award Amount

  $ 100,000.00

• Award Instrument

  Standard Grant

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project is aimed at developing a novel pervaporation membrane for the separation of water during esterification reaction to improve yields of lactate esters. Ethyl lactate is used in large volume and is produced from fermentation of renewable carbohydrate sources such as corn. The higher cost of manufacture of lactate esters is due to the low yield of the esterification process. The cost of the manufacture can be lowered by increasing the efficiency of the esterification process. To improve the efficiency of the process, a novel membrane is proposed to achieve high separation and yield. <br/><br/>The use of an efficient membrane for separation in lactate ester production holds several benefits from the industrial, commercial and environmental standpoint. Lactate esters such as ethyl lactate are safe alternatives to conventional organic industrial solvents that are known to damage the ozone layer and pollute groundwater.

• Program Officer

  Cheryl F. Albus

• Min Amd Letter Date

  5/15/2006 - 20 years ago

• Max Amd Letter Date

  1/10/2007 - 19 years ago

• ARRA Amount

• Name

  Materials Modification Inc.

• City

  FAIRFAX

• State

  VA

• Country

  United States

• Address

  2809-K MERRILEE DRIVE

• Postal Code

  220314429

• Phone Number

  7035601371

• First Name

  R

• Last Name

  Radhakrishnan

• Email Address

  radha@matmod.com

• Start Date

  5/15/2006 12:00:00 AM

• Name

  Industrial Technology

• Code

  308000