Critical Need for this Technology
Although PVC is only the third most widely produced synthetic plastic versus polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE), it has a higher energy consumption and CO2e emission rate than both materials. PVC is a legacy product, which has been in use in its current state for over 60 years. A gap exists for healthy, circular building materials in the U.S., especially polymeric materials such as PVC. The building sector is responsible for the majority of GHG at roughly 40%, 13% of those emissions come from the production of building materials. Nearly 70% of the nearly 40 million tons of PVC manufactured yearly are for the building sector. While PVC is made in the U.S., the majority of this tonnage is manufactured in Asia Pacific, specifically in Japan and China. It is then shipped based on demand, processed locally into finished products shipped from one (or relatively few) location(s) across the U.S. The lifecycle GHG associated with this paradigm are high, not only in raw material sourcing and raw material transportation but also manufacturing, etc.
Supplemental Need for this Technology
According to the EPA, Americans spend roughly 90% of their time indoors where air contamination is between 2-5x higher than outdoors. One of the contributing factors to decreased indoor air quality is the type of materials utilized in building and construction. Even with well documented risk, most PVC produced is for piping applications: municipal, industrial and residential. A gap exists for healthy, circular building materials in the U.S., especially polymeric materials such as PVC. PVC has been shown to degrade into microplastics, which have been found within human organs as well as release dioxins and phthalates which disrupt the human endocrine system. In addition, current PVC manufacturing processes are fossil fuel based (FFB) and contain additive chemicals such as TiO2 and Al(OH)3 which have been identified as harmful.
Competition
- manufacturers of traditional polymer products made from virgin FFB materials
manufacturers of polymer products with a percentage of bio-based components
manufacturers of products where bio-based could be used, but currently, is not
Potential Markets
Beachhead market is building and construction, specifically the production of PVC alternatives.
- Building and Construction – ~70% of the 40 Million tons of PVC produced annually are for the built environment. This translates to a $11 Billion SAM in the U.S. ($47 Billion TAM worldwide). However, this bio-based polymer is suitable for the replacement of other synthetic polymers as well
- Automotive – Interiors
- Textiles – Footwear
- Biomedical
Key Innovation
Development of a fossil fuel-free, circular, durable polymer.
R&D Status
Frakktal has successfully manufactured biobased polymers at bench scale and progressively larger scale up manufactures on pilot equipment.
Team Overview
Jhana Porter: Founder and CEO, is a certified project manager (PMP) with more than 20 years in the biotech industry with a focus on building processes and systems and matching technology with business needs. She has sat on teams for several greenfield biotech buildouts over $50MM leading tech transfer, project management and quality initiatives. She is a member of the IMPEL+ 2023 cohort; as head of a cohort company, she presented at the 2023 Peer Review of the Building Technologies Office (BTO) in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as well as the 2023 U.S. Depart of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Innovative Housing Showcase.
Technology Profile
Status: TRL 5/BioMRL 5
Primary industry: Building and Construction
Category (i.e. tech keywords): Agriculture, Biomass, Polymers
Estimated annual revenue: N/A
Employs: N/A
Social challenge: Developing healthy, accessible materials for the built environment as an alternative to fossil fuel based feedstocks.
R&D commercial collaborator: N/A