Virent Energy Systems Inc., which has already shown it can make electricity from sugar, wants to deploy the same chemical process to make a chemical commonly used to make detergents, paints and other products.
The Madison-based energy startup has won a $2 million federal grant to develop its technology in conjunction with FutureFuel Chemical Co., at a biodiesel plant in Batesville, Ark.
The grant, awarded by the federal agriculture and energy departments, comes several months after the company received $7.5 million in venture capital funding from investors including Cargill Inc. and Honda Motor Co. Virent is a spinoff from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, created to market a patented chemical conversion process developed by UW researchers.