Låkril Technologies

Låkril is coming to Europe! We will be attending Pitch Perfect and Boost the European Bioeconomy 2024 and be based in Brussels, Belgium the week of 2 December. Send us a note and request a meeting – there is still time available on Thursday 5 December. On Tuesday, 3 December, Låkril co-founder and President Chris Nicholas will present “Sustainable Pathways to Biobased Acrylics” during Pitch Session 4. We are looking forward to making new connections in the bioeconomy, discussing scale-up possibilities and exploring investment in the green economy. https://lnkd.in/eA2DMHX3 Thanks to Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant for hosting this event and advancing the bioeconomy!

Listen to “Turning Corn into Acrylics” on Managing for Profit, a partnership with the Illinois Corn Marketing Board. Chris Nicholas, Låkril co-founder and President, recently spoke with Brownfield Ag News reporter Jared White about Låkril Technology’s bio-based processes. Said Nicholas, “Låkril Technologies is helping people go from the farm to the future. So essentially, at Låkril, we’re connecting agricultural value chains into the high value industrial chemicals that all of us need as we go about our developed lifestyles.” Many thanks to Brownfield Ag News and the Illinois Corn Growers Association (IL Corn) for airing/posting the interview and helping spread the word about our sustainable technology. https://lnkd.in/e36khGBb

The entire staff at Låkril congratulates founding partner and President Chris Nicholas on being named an American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AICHE) Fellow at the 2024 AIChE Fall Annual Meeting in San Diego, California! AIChE - American Institute of Chemical Engineers is the world's leading organization for chemical engineering professionals, with more than 60,000 members from more than 110 countries. Fellow is AIChE's highest grade of membership and is achieved only through election by the AIChE Board of Directors. Way to go, Chris! Chris is a 25-year American Chemical Society Member and an AIChE Fellow who earned a B.A. at Kalamazoo College and a Ph.D. at Northwestern University. He is an inventor or co-inventor on greater than 120 US and foreign patents and the coauthor of 35+ peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. Chris has also been the recipient of the Herman Pines Award for Excellence in Catalysis and the SWCS Award for Excellence in Applied Catalysis. Chris, along with University of Minnesota professor Dr. Paul Dauenhauer, co-founded Låkril Technologies in 2019, which is currently developing a catalytic process to manufacture bio-based acrylic acid and acrylates. Prior to his time at Låkril, Chris spent 15 years at Honeywell UOP in technical and managerial roles related to the development of new materials, catalysts, and chemical processes.

At Låkril Technologies, we are grateful for the support of organizations like Iowa Corn. Their advice and support these last years has been invaluable during the initial build-out and derisking of our process technology allowing industrial decarbonization of the coatings, paints, adhesives, and superabsorbent polymer value industries. We recently took second place in the Radicle Growth Corn Value Chain Challenge, winning a $500,000 investment prize. Låkril’s bifunctional catalyst enables the efficient conversion of corn-based lactic acid and ethanol into bio-based acrylics, offering a sustainable alternative to traditional petrochemical methods. This innovation leverages renewable corn resources to produce acrylics, reducing carbon emissions and aligning with the growing demand for eco-friendly chemical production solutions. We at Låkril Technologies would like to acknowledge and thank Iowa Corn for their notable support for companies like ours, who are working hard to identify and develop opportunities to expand agribusiness. https://lnkd.in/ghNhbsAZ

Låkril Technologies would like to express our gratitude to the KENTUCKY CORN GROWERS ASSOCIATION for their support these past years as we continue developing technologies that benefit the environment and open new doors for the agriculture industry. Without the backing of organizations like Kentucky Corn, attaining our goals would not be possible. We are excited to have been selected as the winner of the Radicle Growth Corn Value Chain Challenge. https://lnkd.in/gvJBCH9c

We're grateful to the Kansas Corn Council and other corn checkoffs for coming together to fund the Radicle Corn Value Chain Challenge. As winners of the Challenge, we look forward to continuing to bring a bio-based, drop-in acrylic acid to market to help drive new uses for greater than 500 millions bushels of corn. Connie Fischer, Neal Gutterson, and Chris Nicholas talked in depth about this overall Corn Value Chain Challenge and the opportunities to bring new uses for corn to commercialization. Stay tuned for links to our 30 minute interview on WIBW. https://lnkd.in/gdUQBet6

Look who made list of “The 50 Hottest Companies in the Bioeconomy 2024-25” at the Advanced Bioenergy Leadership Conference (ABLC)! The readers of Biofuels Digest named Låkril #36 on the 50 Hottest Companies in the Bioeconomy from more than 2000 eligible companies. We appreciate the high praise and honor within the biotech industry. We are excited by our achievements to date and look forward to delivering on all the remining challenges and expectations set for us by our investors and supporters, our potential customers, our own scientists and leaders, and others throughout the industry. https://lnkd.in/gzHQa-gM

At Låkril Technologies , we're excited to have been named Radicle Corn Challenge winners and one of the 50 hottest companies in the bio economy!

Today's the Day! Finals of the Radicle Corn Value Challenge. https://lnkd.in/gRemHJ8X

Låkril Co-founder and President Chris Nicholas will be in San Francisco on Tuesday to attend the Radicle Corn Value Chain Challenge, sponsored by US Corn Farmers. Hope to see you there or at the livestream link below. Låkril is one of four startups selected by Radicle Growth to showcase its technology and compete for funding, mentoring, and networking support. Chris will discuss Låkril’s eco-friendly approach to produce bio-based acrylic acid and acrylates.