Technology
September 29, 2020
Emery CPI Presentation
Emery Oleochemicals to Present Leading Foam Recycling Technology at CPI
2020 Sustainability Webinar
CINCINNATI, OH, USA (September 28, 2020) – Emery Oleochemicals, a world leading, natural-based specialty chemicals manufacturer, is pleased to announce that Mark Kinkelaar, PhD, Global Director of the company’s Eco-Friendly Polyols business, will be a panel speaker as part of the Center for the Polyurethanes Industry (CPI) 2020 fall webinar series. The webinar “Sustainability and End of Life Topics in the Polyurethanes
Industry” is scheduled for Monday, October 5 th from 11am to 1pm Eastern US.
Dr. Kinkelaar’s presentation, titled “Driving Circularity: Advances over six years with INFIGREEN ® recycled content polyols”, will showcase Emery’s pioneering and proprietary technology of converting scrap foam into recycled content polyols. Pilot scale since 2014 and commercialized at industrial-scale production since 2015 in a bespoke plant dedicated to manufacturing polyols and specialty esters, Emery
Oleochemicals has led the way to help customers achieve sustainability goals through chemical recycling of polyurethane foam with both closed-loop and open-loop processes.
To learn more about Emery’s INFIGREEN ® recycled content polyols product line, visit www.emeryoleo.com/polyols.
To register to attend the complimentary CPI October 5th sustainability webinar, visit
https://web.cvent.com/event/4fad5010-45a8-49ec-9bf9-0a405a602a50/summary
September 29, 2020
Emery CPI Presentation
Emery Oleochemicals to Present Leading Foam Recycling Technology at CPI
2020 Sustainability Webinar
CINCINNATI, OH, USA (September 28, 2020) – Emery Oleochemicals, a world leading, natural-based specialty chemicals manufacturer, is pleased to announce that Mark Kinkelaar, PhD, Global Director of the company’s Eco-Friendly Polyols business, will be a panel speaker as part of the Center for the Polyurethanes Industry (CPI) 2020 fall webinar series. The webinar “Sustainability and End of Life Topics in the Polyurethanes
Industry” is scheduled for Monday, October 5 th from 11am to 1pm Eastern US.
Dr. Kinkelaar’s presentation, titled “Driving Circularity: Advances over six years with INFIGREEN ® recycled content polyols”, will showcase Emery’s pioneering and proprietary technology of converting scrap foam into recycled content polyols. Pilot scale since 2014 and commercialized at industrial-scale production since 2015 in a bespoke plant dedicated to manufacturing polyols and specialty esters, Emery
Oleochemicals has led the way to help customers achieve sustainability goals through chemical recycling of polyurethane foam with both closed-loop and open-loop processes.
To learn more about Emery’s INFIGREEN ® recycled content polyols product line, visit www.emeryoleo.com/polyols.
To register to attend the complimentary CPI October 5th sustainability webinar, visit
https://web.cvent.com/event/4fad5010-45a8-49ec-9bf9-0a405a602a50/summary
September 8, 2020
Algal Polyurethane
Checkerspot Closes $36 Million Series B Round
Expanding its Innovation Platform to Create Performance Biomaterials Across Industries
The Algal Wall cast polyurethane sidewall being cast into a WNDR® Alpine’s Vital 100 ski mold at the Checkerspot Salt Lake City Design Lab. The Algal Wall, with a biobased carbon content of 60% (ASTM D6866), also utilizes a novel manufacturing technique that diverts plastic waste from landfills better than traditional techniques that rely on ABS plastic sidewalls. (Photo: Eliel Hindert)
August 19, 2020 12:46 PM Eastern Daylight Time
BERKELEY, Calif. & SALT LAKE CITY–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Checkerspot, Inc., a materials innovation company, announced today that it has closed its Series B financing of $36 million. The primary use of proceeds will be directed towards commercial development and the expansion of the company’s product and innovation platform. The financing was led by Viking Global Investors, with participation from other existing investors including Builders VC and Breakout Ventures. Wilbur Ellis’s Cavallo Ventures, a new strategic investor in Checkerspot, also participated. Including the Series B, Checkerspot has raised more than $50 million.
Understanding the genomics of microalgae allows us to connect the world of biotechnology to bespoke materials and high-performance consumer products. – Scott Franklin, Chief Scientific Officer & co-founder.Tweet this
Throughout many consumer and industrial supply chains, product developers are searching for unique, high-performance materials to help drive revenue growth and product differentiation. This financing provides a strong foundation for Checkerspot to meet the demand for the materials it is commercializing today, as well as the demand for an innovation platform like Checkerspot’s that is capable of creating new materials and products across multiple industry segments. Checkerspot’s innovation platform allows it to address these markets more sustainably than legacy businesses reliant on petroleum and commodity-scale vegetable oils like palm and soy.
Using advanced genomics, biotechnology and biomanufacturing processes, Checkerspot’s innovation platform looks to nature’s vast array of unexplored molecular building blocks, like fatty acids and triglycerides. These compounds were overlooked because they couldn’t be supplied at scale – until now. Checkerspot works with these building blocks to develop and produce structurally unique microalgae oils at scale and then, through chemistry and materials science, rapidly iterates through specific applications to develop materials with targeted features and performance attributes. Checkerspot’s first point of entry into the market with outdoor recreation demonstrates how the company can approach product innovation with a new set of tools.
Founded in 2016, Checkerspot now has three materials on the market. These include a light-weight urethane-based composite (Algal Core) and a cast urethane (Algal Wall), both of which launched in a backcountry ski application through the outdoor recreation brand WNDR® Alpine. The Algal Core is a composite of vertically laminated materials utilizing a biobased urethane foam with a carbon content of greater than 40% (ASTM D6866). The Algal Wall cast polyurethane sidewalls are made utilizing Checkerspot’s proprietary biobased polyurethane, engineered for application-specific physical properties, including greater bondline strength, Shore D Hardness, tensile strength and improved damping. The Algal Wall, with a biobased carbon content of 60% (ASTM D6866), also utilizes a novel manufacturing technique that diverts plastic waste from landfills better than traditional techniques that rely on ABS plastic sidewalls. In partnership with Beyond Surface Technologies (BST), Checkerspot is also commercializing an algal oil formulated into BST’s wicking textile finish, MiDori® BioWick.
“We look forward to announcing additional commercial progress, including more strategic partnerships to complement our existing co-development portfolio with W.L. Gore, DIC Corporation and Beyond Surface Technologies. This financing milestone reflects what Checkerspot has accomplished to date, and the whole team is excited about this next phase and this opportunity to deepen our partnership with Viking,” said Charles Dimmler, CEO and co-founder of Checkerspot.
“We are focused on driving both scale and performance in our materials production to meet demand. Our approach to developing new materials always starts with the performance problem we are trying to solve,” said Scott Franklin, Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder. “Understanding the genomics of microalgae allows us to connect the world of biotechnology to bespoke materials and high-performance consumer products. Through rapid formulation, fabrication and prototyping, we are able to dial in material performance in products in as little as 72 hours. These materials we are focusing on have wide application potential in a range of industries, and this new funding will allow us to grow our platform and expand our reach into those markets.”
About Checkerspot
Checkerspot designs performance materials at a molecular level. It does this by optimizing microbes to biomanufacture unique structural oils produced in nature, but not previously accessible at commercial scale. The company is currently commercializing three materials: a light-weight urethane-based composite (Algal Core) and a cast urethane (Algal Wall), both commercialized initially through the brand WNDR® Alpine, as well as algal oil formulated into MiDori® BioWick and sold in partnership with Beyond Surface Technologies to clothing brands worldwide. Checkerspot empowers product designers and innovators, including Beyond Surface Technologies, Gore and WNDR Alpine, with better materials to develop improved consumer and B2B applications for a post-petroleum future.
September 8, 2020
Algal Polyurethane
Checkerspot Closes $36 Million Series B Round
Expanding its Innovation Platform to Create Performance Biomaterials Across Industries
The Algal Wall cast polyurethane sidewall being cast into a WNDR® Alpine’s Vital 100 ski mold at the Checkerspot Salt Lake City Design Lab. The Algal Wall, with a biobased carbon content of 60% (ASTM D6866), also utilizes a novel manufacturing technique that diverts plastic waste from landfills better than traditional techniques that rely on ABS plastic sidewalls. (Photo: Eliel Hindert)
August 19, 2020 12:46 PM Eastern Daylight Time
BERKELEY, Calif. & SALT LAKE CITY–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Checkerspot, Inc., a materials innovation company, announced today that it has closed its Series B financing of $36 million. The primary use of proceeds will be directed towards commercial development and the expansion of the company’s product and innovation platform. The financing was led by Viking Global Investors, with participation from other existing investors including Builders VC and Breakout Ventures. Wilbur Ellis’s Cavallo Ventures, a new strategic investor in Checkerspot, also participated. Including the Series B, Checkerspot has raised more than $50 million.
Understanding the genomics of microalgae allows us to connect the world of biotechnology to bespoke materials and high-performance consumer products. – Scott Franklin, Chief Scientific Officer & co-founder.Tweet this
Throughout many consumer and industrial supply chains, product developers are searching for unique, high-performance materials to help drive revenue growth and product differentiation. This financing provides a strong foundation for Checkerspot to meet the demand for the materials it is commercializing today, as well as the demand for an innovation platform like Checkerspot’s that is capable of creating new materials and products across multiple industry segments. Checkerspot’s innovation platform allows it to address these markets more sustainably than legacy businesses reliant on petroleum and commodity-scale vegetable oils like palm and soy.
Using advanced genomics, biotechnology and biomanufacturing processes, Checkerspot’s innovation platform looks to nature’s vast array of unexplored molecular building blocks, like fatty acids and triglycerides. These compounds were overlooked because they couldn’t be supplied at scale – until now. Checkerspot works with these building blocks to develop and produce structurally unique microalgae oils at scale and then, through chemistry and materials science, rapidly iterates through specific applications to develop materials with targeted features and performance attributes. Checkerspot’s first point of entry into the market with outdoor recreation demonstrates how the company can approach product innovation with a new set of tools.
Founded in 2016, Checkerspot now has three materials on the market. These include a light-weight urethane-based composite (Algal Core) and a cast urethane (Algal Wall), both of which launched in a backcountry ski application through the outdoor recreation brand WNDR® Alpine. The Algal Core is a composite of vertically laminated materials utilizing a biobased urethane foam with a carbon content of greater than 40% (ASTM D6866). The Algal Wall cast polyurethane sidewalls are made utilizing Checkerspot’s proprietary biobased polyurethane, engineered for application-specific physical properties, including greater bondline strength, Shore D Hardness, tensile strength and improved damping. The Algal Wall, with a biobased carbon content of 60% (ASTM D6866), also utilizes a novel manufacturing technique that diverts plastic waste from landfills better than traditional techniques that rely on ABS plastic sidewalls. In partnership with Beyond Surface Technologies (BST), Checkerspot is also commercializing an algal oil formulated into BST’s wicking textile finish, MiDori® BioWick.
“We look forward to announcing additional commercial progress, including more strategic partnerships to complement our existing co-development portfolio with W.L. Gore, DIC Corporation and Beyond Surface Technologies. This financing milestone reflects what Checkerspot has accomplished to date, and the whole team is excited about this next phase and this opportunity to deepen our partnership with Viking,” said Charles Dimmler, CEO and co-founder of Checkerspot.
“We are focused on driving both scale and performance in our materials production to meet demand. Our approach to developing new materials always starts with the performance problem we are trying to solve,” said Scott Franklin, Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder. “Understanding the genomics of microalgae allows us to connect the world of biotechnology to bespoke materials and high-performance consumer products. Through rapid formulation, fabrication and prototyping, we are able to dial in material performance in products in as little as 72 hours. These materials we are focusing on have wide application potential in a range of industries, and this new funding will allow us to grow our platform and expand our reach into those markets.”
About Checkerspot
Checkerspot designs performance materials at a molecular level. It does this by optimizing microbes to biomanufacture unique structural oils produced in nature, but not previously accessible at commercial scale. The company is currently commercializing three materials: a light-weight urethane-based composite (Algal Core) and a cast urethane (Algal Wall), both commercialized initially through the brand WNDR® Alpine, as well as algal oil formulated into MiDori® BioWick and sold in partnership with Beyond Surface Technologies to clothing brands worldwide. Checkerspot empowers product designers and innovators, including Beyond Surface Technologies, Gore and WNDR Alpine, with better materials to develop improved consumer and B2B applications for a post-petroleum future.
September 1, 2020
Emery Oleochemicals Adds Ester Plasticizers
Emery Oleochemicals Extends Eco-Friendly Polyols Product Line with Ester Plasticizers & Showcases at CTT 2020 Virtual Week Event
CINCINNATI, OH, USA (September 1, 2020) – Emery Oleochemicals, a world leading, natural–based specialty chemicals manufacturer, is pleased to announce the release of its new EMEROX ® Ester Plasticizer product line.
As part of Emery’s Eco-Friendly Polyols business portfolio, EMEROX Ester Plasticizers offer low viscosity, low water solubility, excellent low temperature performance, and have excellent thermal stability.
These esters are designed to work with hydrophobic polyols for a broad range of applications to modify the cured systems properties and reduce system viscosity and system cost. In addition to improving the performance of your formulated polyurethane, EMEROX Ester Plasticizers have high bio-based content to help you achieve your sustainability objectives.
The Eco-Friendly Polyols business will be showcasing its EMEROX Ester Plasticizers at the Coatings Trends & Technology 2020 virtual event taking place September 8-11.
Visit Emery’s CTT Exhibition Booth to find out more or visit our website at
www.emeryoleo.com/polyols.
About Emery Oleochemicals’ Eco-Friendly Polyols
EMEROX ® Polyols provide formulators and end-users in the polyurethane industry with economical solutions that offer enhanced performance properties and easily integrate to improve formulations. Many of our EMEROX Polyols are also certified under the USDA BioPreferred ® Program and contain high bio-based content (50-99%) to help our customers achieve their sustainability objectives.
To learn about Emery Oleochemicals’ comprehensive portfolio of EMEROX Polyol grades that address a broad range of flexible foam, rigid foam and CASE industry application requirements, visit www.emeryoleo.com/polyols.
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