OPX’s product meets performance goals

BOULDER – An area company that specializes in bio-based chemicals and fuels announced its first product has met its performance and cost goals.

Boulder-based OPX Biotechnologies Inc. said Monday in a press release that its BioAcrylic compound, which is made from corn sugar or cane sugar feedstock, can be produced more cheaply than the standard petroleum-based acrylic chemical it is intended to replace.

OPX will now move from a pilot-scale process to a larger demonstration
phase. The company plans to begin commercial-scale development in 2014,
president and chief executive Charles R. Eggert said in the release.

The petroleum-based acrylic is used to make consumer and industrial products such as diapers, detergents, paints and adhesives. The global market for the substance is believed to be $8 billion per year.

Testing showed BioAcrylic to be “performance equivalent” and cheaper and more environmentally friendly than petroleum-based acrylic, the release said. OPX believes BioAcrylic can beat the cost of petro-acrylic by 25 percent and lower greenhouse gas emissions by 75 percent.

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