Public Funding for Starbons Limited

"Starbons" are a family of innovative, patented, carbon-based materials derived from organic matter including food waste. They have catalytic properties which are significant in the synthesis of bio-based (as opposed to petroleum-based) products such as lubricants (or "biolubricants") which are becoming increasingly important from a sustainability and legislative point-of-view. Potentially Starbons have a triple environmentally beneficial impact on lubricant production: (i) The enabling of bio-lubricants to be commercially produced, obviating the dependency on finite petroleum resources; (ii) Reducing the environmental impact of harsh by-products associated with petroleum-based lubricant production, and; (iii) The environmentally beneficial impact of recycling organic matter and food waste in the production of the Starbon catalyst itself. The Project's aim is to validate the above in a cost-effective, commercially practical Proof of Concept.

This project, Alginic-acid to Safety ("A2S"), centres on the transformation of a key product from seaweed processing, Alginic Acid ("AA"), into novel materials ("Starbon") with superior performance in the field of toxic gas filtration. Scotland has a long history with seaweed processing dating back to the 18th century. Although primary Alginate production in Scotland ceased early in the 21st century, a local company Marine Biopolymers Ltd (MBL) is now using state of the art seaweed processing technology ("bio-refining"), to once more produce materials in Scotland. These products from seaweed processing have a wide variety of end-use applications, especially in nutrition and health care. MBL's product portfolio includes Alginic acid (AA). Partnering MBL in the project is Starbons Ltd (SBL), a company that holds patents for the manufacture of cutting-edge adsorbents (Starbon) which are manufactured from AA. Additional project partners are the University of York (specifically, the Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence), the Biorenewables Development Centre (an RTO associated with the University of York) and ICMEA-UK Ltd, an engineering company which specialises in scale up of processes from pilot to commercial. The project's aim is to achieve product scale-up from already demonstrated pilot scale processes currently operated separately at MBL and at SBL. The longer-term vision is to invest in an integrated full scale production facility in Scotland, co-locating MBL and SBL manufacturing, making use of indigenous and sustainably available seaweed, and also the region's abundantly available renewable energy, in an optimised, low emissions process. There will not only be a positive environmental impact but also the creation of highly skilled employment opportunities.

Starbon(r) novel materials ("Starbons") are made from food waste or seaweed. They are sustainable, biodegradable and very interesting. Starbons are like a solid sponge where the size and stickiness of the holes can be tuned for various applications like capturing toxic gases or separating mixtures. These innovative materials have over 55 peer reviewed publications on their applications, from pharmaceuticals to carbon-capture. Starbons are made in 3 steps; 1) gelling to make the pore structure (holes), 2) drying without losing the holes and 3) pyrolysing (heating in the absence of oxygen) to a set temperature to give the final product. This project aims to improve the pyrolysis step and by doing this open up new market opportunities. This new approach to producing Starbons has a high degree of technical risk and public funding will allow market access 4-5 years earlier.