Chemical Research Receives Frankel Funding

Business Wire, June 10, 2008

FLINT, Mich. -- The Frankel Commercialization Fund at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business and the Michigan State University Rational Sitting Push/Pull Accelerator 2 (RSPPA2) program have announced their funding support of a technology developed by Dr. Lars Beholz, visiting assistant professor of Chemistry at Kettering University.

The Frankel Commercialization Fund awarded $71,000 and the RSPPA2 fund $50,000 to BeholzTech, Inc., to advance Beholz's discovery of a cost-effective method to alter the surface of polyolefin plastics so the material will easily accept coatings.

Prior to Dr. Beholz's technology, the coating, bonding and chemical modification of polyolefin plastics was generally cost prohibitive and produced potentially dangerous chemical byproducts. BeholzTech's environmentally aware process enables additional uses and new markets for polyolefins by the $110 billion plastics industry. BeholzTech hopes to be a tenant of Kettering University's Science and Technology Incubator.

"The funding will be absolutely critical to enable BeholzTech to produce sample products that we can use in sales to potential customers and to attract more investors," said Beholz. The pre-seed seed money will be used for prototype development, customer identification, marketing plan development and the recruitment of management personnel. "If we are successful, I think we will have a handful of people within 12 months working here in Flint," said Beholz.

In addition to his teaching duties at Kettering, Beholz is involved in a variety of research projects at the university including the Chemical Agent Fate Research Project, relating to chemical dispersion, for the Defense Department, and the Increased Artificial Joint Life in Friction Bearing Orthopedic Applications research project, to extend the life of joint replacements, in collaboration with McLaren Regional Medical Center. "I am privileged to work with the outstanding scientists and engineers at Kettering in this exciting, interdisciplinary academic environment," said Beholz.

BeholzTech Inc. is a developer of a new generation of environmentally aware performance materials for use in advanced manufacturing and beyond. For more information about the company, visit www.beholztech.com.