Our Advantage

Upcycled Aromatics’ competitive advantage lie in our flexible process, our tight integration between process and genetics, and our choice of feedstock. We plan to provide the aromatic chemicals with the volume and purity customers expect at a fraction of the financial and environmental costs.

Our Flexibility

The flexibility our process offers us the option to respond to shifting markets. Although the value of shikimic acid is many times higher than that of cinnamic acid and its derivatives, any lull in demand can be compensated for by simply flipping our genetic switch and changing our product. On the other hand, any future spikes in the price of shikimic acid (perhaps due to another pandemic scare) will allow us to take advantage of such opportunities. Furthermore, the switchability of Upcycled Aromatics will insulate us from price crashes in any one of our possible products. Furthermore, the semi-permanent, modular nature of the process allows us to avoid costs in the transportation of glucose, and allows us to be consistent in the design and quality of our "tack-on" plants.

The Integration Between Process and Genetics

Process and genetics in Upcycled Aromatics have been developed in tandem. Such a relationship results in a great deal of synchronization between these two very different areas, ensuring that we will never experience any disconnect between biology and engineering. As these feed back onto one another in an iterative process, improvements in one will always be a fruit of and perhaps a seed for improvements in the other.

The Feedstock

As mentioned previously, it is impossible for a recycling plant to process the same paper more than six to seven times before the fibres are deemed too short and disposed of. Our revolutionary strategy is to utilize these once useless fibres as the feedstock for our process, ultimately turning what was once waste into valuable industrial chemicals important in both the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries.

Our strategy ultimately allows us to save significantly on operating costs, and since our initial prototype facility will be located at a recycling plant onsite, costs associated with the feedstock will be negligible if not zero. Many people are currently using cellulose as a feedstock, for example, as a precursor to bioethanol, but with Upcycled Aromatics' novel process, we are able to virtually eliminate any and all associated transportation costs, which constitute a huge energy sink in most other cellulosic approaches. Our revolutionary idea, while increasing our margins, also gives us the opportunity to funnel the money saved into other endeavours, such as expansion or R&D. And because our operating costs are so low, if the need arises, we have a great deal of room to undercut our prices to remain competitive with other suppliers.

Intellectual Property Concerns

To ensure that our process remains open and transparent to the public, we have decided against pursuing a intellectual property rights for the genetics involved in creating our strain. We instead plan to patent for the process itself to ensure that we retain control over the intellectual property of our company.