Madison-based Pyran Inc. has received a $1 million Phase II Small Business Innovative Research grant from the National Science Foundation to promote the company’s work to make paints and coatings from renewable sources like corn cobs, according to a release from the company.
The company’s co-founders, Professor George Huber and Dr. Kevin Barnett, discovered a new chemical pathway to make a key paint ingredient called 1,5-pentanediol (1,5-PDO) out of corn cobs through work supported by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
