By Patrick Raleigh UT On-line/news editorMinneapolis Minnesota-Cargill Inc. is to receive $1.9-million over two years from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to develop new industrial chemicals from soy and other oilseeds. The DOE grant, which will be matched by Cargill, will provide "the foundation for an oilseed biorefinery in the future," the company said 22 Oct. Cargill said the project will involve collaboration with Materia Inc., which will provide proprietary technology to modify unsaturated oils to produce chemicals for various chemical and plastics products."A biorefinery shares many features with a petrochemical refinery, including a diverse platform for production of fuels and chemicals." said Jim Stoppert, who leads Cargill's industrial bioproducts development initiative."The difference is the feedstock is renewable, which leaves a smaller environmental footprint and helps strengthen the agricultural economy, added Stoppert in the Cargill statement.Cargill recently entered a research agreement for the development of soy-based polyols for the PU industry with the Kansas Polymer Research Center, at Pittsburg State University in Kansas. "
