Akron’s Sustainable Polymers Tech Hub to receive grant funding of approximately $51 million
Washington, DC – The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced another funding round of approximately $504 million in implementation grants to 12 Tech Hubs to scale up the production of critical technologies, create jobs in innovative industries, strengthen U.S. economic competitiveness and national security, and accelerate the growth of industries of the future in regions across the United States.
“Through the Tech Hubs program, we are maintaining our competitive edge by advancing America’s leadership in commercializing critical emerging tech sectors. And we’re leveraging the diverse talent and resources that currently exist across the country to achieve this goal,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.
The Sustainable Polymers Tech Hub, led by the Greater Akron Chamber, aims to tackle the severe climate and environmental impacts resulting from the use of fossil fuel-derived polymers (rubbers and plastics) through accelerating sustainable polymer manufacturing and commercialization in the United States. While polymers have long played an important role in American innovation, their conventional production has resulted in environmental challenges like greenhouse gas emissions and plastic pollution. This Tech Hub will pair the largest concentration of plastics and rubber manufacturing plants, machines, and materials in North America with regional R&D partnerships to establish global leadership in emissions-advantaged plastic and rubber technology. This Hub will be complemented by EDA’s Good Jobs Challenge investment in Ohio that supports workforce training in Ohio in machining, robotics, and other industrial automation specialties.
The Sustainable Polymers Tech Hub seeks to advance global decarbonization through innovation and equitable economic growth by bringing new polymer technologies to market that reduce fossil fuel consumption.
In July 2024, EDA recommended this Tech Hub receive grant funding of approximately $51 million to implement seven projects, including: Building new sustainability and polymer lifecycle management workforce development programming; Scaling up production of bio-based butadiene in an effort to reduce greenhouse gases and impact synthetic rubber supply chains on a global scale; Increasing pilot scale testing and validation of advanced carbon nanotube reinforced products to address critical U.S. supply chain vulnerabilities; Scaling up a liquid phase mixing process to achieve better composite uniformity for emerging materials; Developing a more environmentally safe anti-degradant to produce tires, rubber products, and plastics; and Commercializing the recycling of end-of-life tires by scaling up processes to recover and re-use functional polymers from discarded scrap tire waste products.