EPA awards small business grant to OCC building products producer

UltraCell Insulation LLC, Newtonville, Massachusetts, has been awarded a $100,000 research grant from the U.S. EPA under its Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Program. UltraCell was one of 20 companies nationwide to receive the award. The company says the research grant will be used to optimize its manufacturing process for producing building insulation made from 100-percent-corrugated-cardboard, to allow it to obtain customer feedback on the product’s performance and to connect the company with future production and distribution partners.

 

“Both the timing and appropriateness of this award will position our company to commercialize UltraCell's new, 100-percent-corrugated-cardboard-based cellulose insulation manufacturing process," says Mark Brandstein, president and CEO of UltraCell. “The whole insulation industry is being challenged with higher building code standards for insulation and a surge in preference or requirements for high-performance green building materials to reduce greenhouse gas, just as the feedstock supply for traditional cellulose insulation—newspapers—is precipitously falling as more people get their news via the Internet.”

 

According to April Richards, program manager for the EPA, “UltraCell Insulation LLC, was chosen as part of a select group of companies for an SBIR award because their technology shows innovation toward protecting public health and our environment, which is the foundation and purpose of the EPA SBIR program. The company’s technology converts a waste material (cardboard) into a valuable commodity (insulation), while providing the potential for significant energy efficiency improvements in buildings.”

 

The patented process, developed in conjunction with the University of Maine’s Process Development Center (PDC), enables previously unusable Old Corrugated Cardboard (OCC) to produce high performing cellulose insulation. Not only does it allow for up to 100 percent OCC feedstock use, but UltraCell Insulation also reduces carbon emissions in three ways: 

 

 

The six-month Phase I grant is awarded under the research topic Innovation in Manufacturing Green Materials and is expected to be completed by October 2014. According to UltraCell, the results of the project will position the company to commercialize its product with future production and distribution partners.

 

UltraCell Insulation owns a patented process to produce cellulose insulation using 100 percent OCC with fire retardant chemicals impregnated into the cellulose fibers. This process enables the creation of a higher performing, cost effective green building insulation material that is able to meet the increasing demands of the building insulation market for better insulating and environmentally friendly building materials. 

 

Funded by both private and public money, UltraCell says it will be bringing nationally branded UltraCell insulation products to market via production and distribution partnerships across North America.