Proprietary technology from NFCC in alignment with the OSU Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) and the OSU Center for Advanced Polymer and Composite Engineering (CAPCE) anchor a new Wright Project in advanced natural fiber composites.  On May 27, 2009, the Ohio Third Frontier Commission recommended that the proposal “Commercialization of Bio-based and Nano-tailored Composites for Industrial Applications” be funded at $3 million. As per Third Frontier requirements, the project will be matched with another $3 million by OBIC Alliance members. This project will accelerate the adoption of composites that are lighter in weight, lower in cost, and less abrasive than traditional reinforcement materials (while still providing comparable performance requirements). The project award will provide the capital funds to enable OSU to set up fiber processing facilities and pilot scale composite processing and testing.

This aforementioned collaboration will entail optimizing the fiber fibrillation processing, characterizing and selecting an appropriate fiber surface treatment, and compounding the bio-based fibers and fillers into composite material in a pellet-sized form. Once in a pellet-sized form, the composite material can be directly substituted for polymer pellets and can be processed with standard injection molding equipment.  Preproduction versions of building and construction materials as well as consumer and industrial products will be produced and validated by end-users/collaborators.

The initial bio-feedstock being used is bast fibers from kenaf and jute.  However, there are many other fibers of interest, both bast and non-bast, such as corn, wheat straw, soy hulls, paper fiber, etc. CAPCE and OARDC will be providing their academic expertise to support these industrial uses of these fibers. Academicians from these units will also be involved in workforce training and education related to the advanced natural fiber equipment and processing technologies as they relate to bio-feedstocks, fiber processing, and polymer science. It is estimated that the economic impact on Ohio will be $12 million in revenue and 37 jobs by 2012. 

Currently, a pilot production facility for advanced natural fiber composites using bast fibers has been constructed at Wooster and is supplying limited quantities of materials for evaluation. With this grant, production capacity will be greatly increased. This is a key OBIC initiative and if your organization has an interest in getting involved, this is the perfect time to get in at the ground floor.  Please send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you are interested in participating in this project.  In this email, please include your name, contact information, and the name of your organization.  Also include where your interest lies – i.e. using the materials for certain end-uses, supplying feedstock, etc. 

We at OBIC are excited about this new key initiative and look forward to working with a coterie of Ohio partners as this technology comes to fruition. Thus far, the following organizations are involved:

• OSU OARDC  (including Food Agriculture and Biological Engineering or FABE)
• OSU CAPCE
• NFCC
• EMCC
• VinylTech
• Fypon
• Michelman
• OMNOVA
• Proctor & Gamble
• International Paper
• PolymerOhio
• Ohio Soybean Council
• Ohio Corn Marketing Program/Ohio Small Grains Marketing Program