West Sacramento-based Origin Materials Inc. has received funding from an institute recently created by the Department of Defense that facilitates more domestic manufacturing of sustainable products.
The funding comes from BioMADE, which was launched by the DoD to improve domestic supply chains and to create manufacturing jobs in the U.S. based on bio-industrial feedstocks.
"This grant reflects the strong momentum for Origin’s technology platform to help solve the greatest sustainability challenges of our time," said Origin Materials co-CEO Rich Riley, in a news release. "We are excited that Origin has been selected to pursue this far-reaching initiative for American manufacturing."
Origin (Nasdaq: ORGN) has been working for years to create plastic precursor chemicals from scrap wood and organic materials to avoid the use of petrochemicals.
BioMADE, launched in April 2021, is based in St. Paul, Minnesota, and has a satellite campus in Emeryville.
The BioMADE grants total $18.7 million in funding into nine projects. An Origin representative declined to disclose how much of that funding the company received, referring questions to BioMADE. BioMADE didn't respond to requests for comment.
For its part, Origin will use its technology platform to develop samples of bio-based polymers and bio-based carbon black, which is used widely in industry to make tires and other products to support DoD decarbonization efforts, BioMADE said.
Advances in the use of bio-industrial manufacturing are seen as a way to enhance military readiness and to strengthen domestic supply chains, BioMADE said. They are also a strategy to support farmers and create jobs in rural communities.
"These projects will help unlock the benefits of bio-industrial manufacturing for all Americans ⏤ from everyday consumers to farmers to warfighters," said Douglas Friedman, BioMADE CEO, in a news release. "By creating new products and transforming how we domestically manufacture existing products, these projects ⏤ and the bio-industrial manufacturing industry at large ⏤ have the potential to positively impact nearly every aspect of our lives."
Bio-industrial manufacturing uses plant products as well as living organisms such as bacteria, yeast and algae to create new products and technologies as alternatives to methods that now rely on fossil fuels for feedstock, according to BioMADE.
Origin this year completed and started its first large-scale production plant for zero-carbon plastic ingredients in Sarnia, Ontario.
The company's stock price plummeted by 66% last month when Origin announced it would expand into biofuels and pushed back the completion schedule of its second plant in Louisiana. The addition of biofuels potentially puts Origin into a riskier business, in competition with a vast number of startups to make and sell a low-value commodity, analysts said.
Origin has plastic precursor agreements with global chemical companies including South Korean industrial conglomerate Hyosung Advanced Materials Corp. and Thailand-based Indorama Ventures, the world's largest producer of PET plastic resins.
Origin also has many high-profile consumer brand companies committed to using its products, including Paris-based international luxury brand company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, New York-based cosmetics powerhouse Revlon Inc. and PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP).
