Government Funding Expected to Accelerate Testing, Commercialization
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is funding Kebotix to develop safe diarylide pigment alternatives using the company’s platform that accelerates discovery of new chemicals through artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics.
Today’s announcement by the Cambridge, Mass.-based technology company follows the EPA’s news of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program funding being allocated across 30 American companies to develop solutions for global environmental and public health problems through innovative environmental technologies. Kebotix’s program, within the “Safer Chemicals” category, is for use of a machine-learning platform to develop diarylide pigment alternatives that do not produce polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other toxic byproducts.
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Diarylide pigments are organic compounds ubiquitous to such applications as commercial and home printing; Yellow 12, a diarylide pigment, is one of the three main colored pigments used in the four-color process of color printing, for example. These pigments usually provide bright colors and good stability at low cost, which reportedly leads to the global production of diarylide yellows at scales of more than 50,000 tons per year.
“This is a momentum builder for Kebotix’s existing work in the space of environmentally friendly and non-toxic pigments,” said Dr. Semion Saikin, Kebotix’s chief science officer. “The EPA funding enables us to accelerate engagement with companies expressing interest in testing and buying new halogen- and heavy metal-free pigments that our technology discovers and develops.”
The effort to spawn safer pigments harnesses Kebotix’s existing AI-powered platform that involves deep-learning algorithms for the prediction of molecular properties, synthetic routes and high-throughput computational modeling of molecules in addition to automated synthesis and characterization controlled by proprietary machine learning methods.
“While our platform is advancing next-generation of specialty chemicals that are sustainable, environmentally friendly and economical, the closed-loop approach to the design and discovery of pigments is uniquely efficient,” Saikin said. “The reason is it intentionally includes UV and thermal stability of materials in addition to their compatibility in the generation of virtual libraries. In turn, this approach will translate into a reduced cost of pigment design and scaled-up production.”
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EPA funding to develop solutions that help meet the nation’s R&D needs comes at a critical time for the industry and welfare of the planet, according to one of the world’s most esteemed pigment experts.
“Kebotix’s entire mission is to help solve Earth’s most challenging environmental and sustainability problems, so the EPA selecting this technology platform company to develop safer pigments and synthetic pathways makes tremendous sense,” said Bruce Mulholland, holder of 15 patents in color and appearance technologies. “As the demand for textiles, plastics, paint and coatings and construction grows, so does the need to expeditiously discover new materials and manufacturing routes that do not produce PCBs and other toxic byproducts.”
Data suggest that the use of pigments and dyes is significantly contributing to the global distribution of PCBs, which are synthetic chemicals that do not occur naturally. Although intentional manufacture of PCBs has been banned throughout the developed world, they are still generated during the production of certain classes of pigments.
The EPA is one of 11 federal agencies participating in the SBIR Program that supports the development and commercialization of technological solutions.
“Small businesses funded through the EPA’s SBIR Program provide innovative approaches to address EPA’s mission of protecting human health and the environment,” said April Richards, EPA SBIR Program Manager. “Kebotix’s AI-powered platform is helping address the need for safer color technologies by developing pigment alternatives that do not produce polychlorinated biphenyls and other toxic byproducts that may have adverse human health impacts.”
Working with U.S. agencies on innovation that fosters the development and commercialization of novel technologies isn’t new to Kebotix. The Department of Energy recently selected Kebotix to develop a pipeline for the smart design of OLED emitter molecules. In less than six months the company, using its proprietary AI platform, discovered new classes of candidate molecules that are being developed into device prototypes.
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