Mars Materials (MM), a company turning captured carbon into products like carbon fiber, joined Shell GameChanger, successfully passing its first gate to test using bio-based sugar as a feedstock for its proprietary acrylonitrile, a key chemical building block.

This collaboration accelerates MM's goal to produce sustainable, CO2-free acrylonitrile, expanding raw material options and potentially fast-tracking development for commercial use in plastics, textiles, and water purification.

MM's acrylonitrile is a key chemical building block for carbon fiber, water production polymers, durable plastics, textiles and more, is hydrogen cyanide-free and has been validated by global industry. Produced at MM's pilot plant, Cassini, the team has successfully scaled its novel process from gram-scale to kilogram-scale production of acrylonitrile.

The Shell GameChanger test program aims to validate bio-based sugar feedstock as an alternate raw material to CO2 for the MM's acrylonitrile pathway.

"We're beyond excited to participate in Shell GameChanger, a program that exemplifies how startups and corporations can innovate together to unlock commercial opportunity," said Aaron Fitzgerald, CEO and Co-Founder of Mars Materials. "Shell's support has already accelerated our development by an estimated three years. Shell GameChanger will help expand our choice of raw material with a bio-based sugar option, giving us another edge over the incumbent acrylonitrile production process, which relies on a globally distributed supply chain."

In addition to technical guidance, the Shell GameChanger program will help MM with support in market discovery as well as commercial demonstration and go-to-market planning.

Having successfully passed the first stage gate of the Shell GameChanger program, MM continues to demonstrate that its partner-first approach works. The company intends to replicate its success and seeks to attract further investment, grant funding, and strategic industrial partners necessary for the next phases of its scale-up and commercialization.