About Us
Lab Capabilities
Airable Research Lab is equipped to research and develop new products that utilize soy-based feedstocks to solve industrial and consumer challenges. We design and develop new products based on key performance indicators provided by clients.
Our laboratory provides a range of synthesis, formulation, and analytical capabilities:
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Synthesis capabilities include condensation and emulsion polymerization, esterification, and epoxidation reactions. The laboratory can produce multikilogram-scale samples for customer evaluation using batch reactors with varying scales.
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Formulation capabilities address a variety of application development projects, including coatings, adhesives, sealants, cleaning products, and cosmetics. Our laboratory has mixing equipment that handles diverse viscosity and particle sizes to meet desired product performance.
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Analytical capabilities include GC-MS, SEM, NMR, IR, Raman, and fluorescence spectroscopy.
Airable Research Lab leverages its intellectual property and utilizes other tools to accelerate the research and development process.
R&D 100 Awards
10 Winning Inventions
Market Successes
7 Licensed Products
R&D Experience
70 Years
Our History
Airable Research Lab is invested in serving two communities: research partners and soybean farmers.
The laboratory is the brainchild of the Ohio Soybean Council (OSC), a not-for-profit company founded in 1991 to manage the soybean checkoff. The checkoff collects funds from Ohio soybean farmers and invests those funds in ways that benefit the industry. Key activities include investing in soy-based product development and working to bring new soy-based products to market. More soy-based product sales translates into more soybean sales: a win for the producer, a win for the soybean farmer, and a win for the environment.
A leader in innovation and discovery, we’ve met with great success working with academic and commercial partners to develop and commercialize bio-based goods. Joint efforts have been honored with several distinctions, including ten R&D 100 Awards, and partner companies have seen swift market growth.
The Soybean
Ah, the soybean. Versatile, abundant, affordable. Airable Research Lab leverages this multifaceted legume to cultivate innovations that address the real-world needs of our partners.
Mention soybeans, and most people think of commodities: cooking oil, soy milk, tofu. While these are important products, soybeans have much broader applications across both consumer and industrial spheres—in fact, soybean oil has been boosting manufacturing since Henry Ford developed the car part!
Soybean components—the oil in particular—often present alternatives to existing industry products and processes, many of which were developed long before we recognized certain ingredients’ impacts on the environment—and on the bottom line. Soy-based options can provide advantages in terms of cost, function, and sustainability. Everyone has heard of biodiesel, but forward-thinking researchers have also used soy in products from carpets to candles, footwear to flooring, paint to particleboard.
These green goods capitalize on a critical market trend: recent polling shows that 71% of Americans would prefer to purchase a bio-product over a petroleum- or chemical-based product if the cost is equivalent.
