Catalyzing sustainability in chemical processes.

Låkril Technologies catalyzes sustainability in chemical processes through sales of acrylics and licensing of related catalyst and process technology. We provide competitive alternatives to high volume petrochemicals to help decrease the world's CO₂ intensity. Our revolutionary catalyst technology for catalytic dehydration of α-hydroxy acids allows the supply of sustainable, bio-based acrylic acid and acrylate derivatives as drop-in replacements to the paints, coatings, adhesives, and superabsorbents industries at cost parity.

  • A photo of Christopher Nicholas

    Christopher P. Nicholas

    FOUNDING PARTNER

    Chris brings 25 years of experience in developing and scaling catalysts, catalytic processes, and process engineering in the refining industry, and is now applying that skill set to renewable chemicals.

  • A photo of Paul Dauenhauer

    Paul J. Dauenhauer

    FOUNDING PARTNER

    ​An upper Midwesterner at heart, Paul is a chemical engineer developing new technologies for converting biomass into the chemical building blocks needed for daily life. He is a serial entrepreneur with two additional successful start-ups.

North Pond nature Sanctuary view of Chicago Skyline

Our Mission

Låkril Technologies will bring sustainability to high volume chemical production beginning with processes for bio-based acrylic acid / acrylates.

Starting with a foundation in catalysis, we couple the deep knowledge and rigor of academics with the drive of business commercialization. We value technical competence while building a collaborative culture for our competitive success, with a focus on establishing research and development programs that work to scale technology related to our bio-derived chemicals.

Autumn University of Minnesota Campus

Our History

Låkril Technologies was incorporated in 2021 to commercialize technology spinning out of the University of Minnesota. Since 2022, we’ve been headquartered in Chicago on the Near West Side. In our R&D facility, we are scaling the Låkril Amber Process technology to enable production of bio-based, sustainable acrylic acid at about 50,000 metric ton per year size.

News and Updates

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced a $3.9 million federal investment for 13 projects that will tap into the DOE National Laboratories’ world-class high performance computing (HPC) resources to connect with industry partners.

In this interview, Chris Nicholas discusses catalyst technology that has allowed for more sustainable production of acrylic acid and acrylates. This research has inspired the startup Låkril Technologies Corporation, which is looking to commercialize this technology.

Let’s Work Together