Research
Glimpse: Rivertop Renewables
Everyone likes good chemistry. Take the sizzling kind between two people in love, or the brainstorming among co-workers that generates brilliant ideas. When it comes to Rivertop Renewables, the hottest sustainable startup business coming out of Missoula, good chemistry is the key to success.
Start with pragmatic chemist and inventor Don Kiely, who retired from The University of Montana in 2008. Add a team of Ph.D. chemists with strong ties to Missoula and Kiely's work. To run the new company, invite a motivated community organizer, who happens to be Kiely's son, Jason. Find a talented company president specializing in startup companies. Mix in high-level support from UM, the Missoula business community and the Montana federal delegation, which played a key role in securing millions in financing for the new company to grow in Missoula.
The result? Rivertop Renewables is on its way to becoming a globally significant force making clean, green chemicals to replace phosphates that pollute waterways and petrochemicals that show up in everything from plastics, paints, and flooring to aspirin, clothing, and electronics. The reason Rivertop is on a fast track to commercial success stems from UM's patented oxidation technique to make glucaric acid that is efficient, inexpensive, and wastes nothing. Glucaric acid is listed by the U.S. Department of Energy as one of the top 12 chemicals of the future made from renewable resources.
Detergents likely will be the first major application of glucaric acid as a replacement for phosphates. The target market will be automatic dishwasher detergents for consumers – a multimillion dollar industry. The timing couldn't be better. Phosphates now are banned from dishwasher detergents, and for the past year companies have scrambled to find an affordable substitute that will work as well. Until now, they have failed.
The other key market for Rivertop is in the field of corrosion inhibitors. That may sound less jazzy to consumers, but not when you consider that one application is in de-icing – whether at the level of highway departments salting roads or residents salting their sidewalks. Salt melts ice, but it rusts vehicles and bridges. To combat that problem, industries have switched from rock salt to a brine solution combined with a corrosion inhibitor. The problem lies in the inconsistency and handling expense of corrosion inhibitors available today. Now Rivertop has contracted with the Montana Department of Transportation to supply 110,000 gallons of a bio-based corrosion inhibitor.
Along the way to success, UM has nurtured and incubated the research and the company. Private investors and grants have kept Rivertop growing, and a team of professionals has taken the science from the scientists' bench toward the global market. Today, it provides exciting professional jobs for more than 20 people who might otherwise have left Missoula for Seattle or other cities known for their startup environments.
"Rivertop is a wonderful example of a company built upon the transfer of ideas from a University laboratory to the private sector," says UM President Royce Engstrom, who happens to hold a doctorate in chemistry. "This is exactly the kind of business development and job creation we need in Montana."
Rivertop's progress has also helped provide stabilization for other new companies in western Montana at Missoula's business incubator, MonTEC. The company's recent and rapid growth spurred the need for expansion and also helped transition the 32,000-square-foot incubator into a new business model, with Rivertop serving as its anchor tenant.
A U.S. Economic Development Administration grant and a $1.75 million commitment from the University funded the 12-month renovation project, which cost $3.5 million. In addition, Rivertop will contribute up to $2.5 million in private funds to equip the semiworks (scale-up) portion of the updated facility. The project was completed in December 2012 and now positions MonTEC to nurture many other high-growth companies like Rivertop to create jobs for Montana.