UMaine, Orono startup included in Mainebiz article on growing biobased industry

The University of Maine was mentioned in a Mainebiz article about companies that make products using renewable biobased resources instead of petroleum-based compounds. Maine’s biobased manufacturing sector is composed of several companies including UMaine’s Forest Bioproducts Research Institute, according to the article, and Biobased Maine has partnered with UMaine in a grant application to the U.S. Economic Development Administration to create a strategy for expanding the industry. The Orono-based Revolution Research Inc., a company that focuses on the development and commercialization of eco-friendly products for the construction and packaging industries, also was mentioned in the article. Nadir Yildirim, a graduate of UMaine’s innovation engineering program and a Ph.D. candidate in forest resources, is president of the company, which is a spin-off of UMaine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center. “We are using raw materials from the Maine forest,” Yildirim said. “This technology is very compatible with papermaking. Maine is a great location for this purpose. This is a really critical innovation.”