Owens Corning Intellectual Capital, LLC

Cargill Inc.

Larry Todd Banner

Jesus Manuel Hernandez-Torres

John Andrew Bohlmann

Brian J Brazeau

Tzyy-Jan Han

Shuang Zhou

Paul Loucks

Shannon Nicole Shriver

An environmentally friendly, formaldehyde-free, aqueous binder composition that includes a carbohydrate, a crosslinking agent, and a pre-reacted product of an alcohol or polyol and monomeric or polymeric polycarboxylic acid or polyglycerol is provided. The pre-reacted product may include glycerol and esters of citric acid such a monoglyceryl citrate, diglyceryl citrate, and triglyceryl citrate as well as other higher molecular weight citric acid-based esters. The inclusion of the pre-reacted product in the binder composition helps to speed the crosslinking reaction, induces faster water evaporation, decreases the viscosity of the binder, helps to reduce the amount of water needed for application of the binder, decreases tackiness, and helps to achieve a maximum vertical expansion of the insulation pack in the transfer zone. The binder composition may be used in the formation of insulation materials and non-woven chopped strand mats.

Bio-based binders including carbohydrates and a pre-reacted product of an alcohol or polyol and a monomeric or polymeric polycarboxylic acid

Systems and methods for producing levulinic acid from fungal biomass are disclosed. In one implementation, a method for distilling levulinic acid from a glucosamine-containing feedstock is disclosed that yields a relatively pure (e.g., 90% or greater) levulinic acid product from an otherwise problematic waste stream.

Levulinic acid from fungal biomass

Growing community of inventors

Ottumwa, IA, United States of America

Larry Todd Banner