Today we’d like to introduce you to Corey Tyree
Hi Corey, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
After graduating from high school in Frenchburg, Kentucky, I pursued a chemical engineering degree from the University of Kentucky – something that was really more of a gut instinct, a curiosity about the unknown. I had an aptitude for math but had never met an engineer as there wasn’t much in the way of industry in rural Kentucky. Engineering represented something novel to me – something unconventional, which fit my eccentric personality. Truthfully, I was unprepared for the rigor of the engineering curriculum, but by the time I graduated as an undergraduate, I had proven to myself that I could be a good engineer.
After undergraduate school, I pursued a Ph.D. in chemical engineering, followed by work in the energy industry. My roles included Engineering Manager at Georgia Power where I oversaw $100M in capital projects at large fossil energy facilities. I also served as Senior Director of Southern Research, an R&D service provider to clients in the chemical and energy sectors.
A large part of my job at Southern Research was figuring out how to commercialize technology after it was invented. One piece of the institute’s intellectual property (IP) was the technology that later was licensed to Trillium Renewable Chemicals (Trillium). In order to get the technology out of the lab and create value, we needed to create a company. Trillium became that company. It received a license to the IP and structured to attract the capital needed to scale up the technology.
In 2021, I launched Trillium to meet the growing demand for renewable chemicals. The company was initially funded by venture capital that came from Capricorn Partners. So money from Capricorn, technology from the research institute and then people like me helped start the company. We technically started Trillium on the second floor of my garage. I look back on those early days with fond memories – it was a lot of fun and also challenging to start the company from scratch and try to get the business up and running.
Soon thereafter, Trillium was awarded funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) former Advanced Manufacturing Office (now the Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office or IEDO) to scale up and de-risk a low-carbon version of acrylonitrile—a chemical used to create materials for cars, electronics, aerospace, toys, apparel, sporting goods, water treatment systems, and many more products.
Trillium’s technology has proven to be the right technology at the right time – not only because it offers customers an opportunity to reduce reliance on fossil fuels without having to re-engineer entire supply chains, but also because there is significant market interest in renewable chemicals. I focused my time and energy on this technology because I felt that it had a great chance to succeed.
The work we do feels worthwhile because it will make a difference. There are tens of thousands of people working in the industries that use acrylonitrile, with immeasurable amounts of resources. The global sustainability shift has resulted in an intense interest in Trillium’s product.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There have been some bumps along the way and also some struggles for sure! Starting off in college, I was behind my peers. Growing up in rural Appalachia, I was unprepared for engineering school and had to work double time to achieve the same academic outcome compared to that of other better prepared peers. Eventually I closed that gap and, by the end of college, I continued to be interested in the engineering field.
After graduation, I’d say the biggest initial struggle was finding a job after school. I had finished school during a global recession and it was a really brutal job market. To make matters worse, I was seeking an industry job even though my academic background was probably of little interest to industrial employers. So some of it was bad luck and some of the challenge was the result of my own choices. I was definitely discouraged at the time. Eventually, after many interviews and more than a few rejections, I did find a job.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Trillium Renewable Chemicals?
Trillium Renewable Chemicals is replacing oil and gas derived propylene with bio-renewable feedstocks in the manufacturing of green, drop-in molecules like acrylonitrile and acetonitrile. As the worldwide demand for these chemicals increases, we’re providing a green alternative that reduces carbon emissions, improves safety, and offers customers less volatile, competitive economics. We’re the leader in green acrylonitrile technology. We’re ready to grow and put our customers on the path to sustainability.
One of Trillium’s main focuses is scaling the commercial production of bio-based acrylonitrile, a chemical which has been around for a long time. It’s used to make everything from LEGO toys to carbon fiber used in aerospace parts, cars and sporting goods. It’s also in the acrylic fiber used to make sun umbrellas, sweaters and blankets.
Acrylonitrile is typically made from a petroleum-based feedstock, which Trillium wants to replace with a plant-based feedstock. We’re not creating a new product or a new chemical; it’s the same chemical, just made from a different feedstock so it has a lower carbon score.
We initially started with a pilot plant to develop our technology, based in Charleston, West Virginia. In March 2024, we produced pure, 100% bio-based acrylonitrile at that plant.
In April 2024, we hit another major milestone with a successful customer trial. We showed that we could meet customer specifications for the acrylonitrile product and then we shipped the product to our long-time partner, Syensqo, who is a sub-recipient on the DOE award. Syensqo showed that when they polymerize our product into polyacrylonitrile (the precursor to carbon fiber), it performs identically to petroleum-based acrylonitrile. This is a huge deal, because our customers can use the same product specifications that they’ve been using for many decades – and it won’t disrupt the current supply chain.
More recently we began construction of a scaled-up version of our technology in Texas, which we refer to as “Project Falcon.” This will be the world’s first demonstration plant for converting plant-based glycerol into acrylonitrile. We’re excited to build this plant at INEOS Nitriles Green Lake facility, which is home to America’s largest acrylonitrile production plant. We will start operations this year (2025) and run the project through 2026. Getting Project Falcon up and running will be a significant step toward bringing our technology to market and producing sustainable bio-based acrylonitrile at scale.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
Right now, we’re seeing a sort of rationalization of the world’s chemical supply chains. We’ve had at least two major shifts over the last 10-15 years. America has become a dominant oil and gas producer. And China has gone from a net importer of many key chemicals to a net exporter as they brought on new production capacity. That rapid expansion of capacity has outpaced product demand. So in the petrochemical markets, there are some real headwinds. At the same time, and especially as the world population ages and demographics change, there is and will continue to be increasing interest in greener products. At Trillium, we hear from all sorts of different customers interested in our product. And that interest is being driven by end customer pull for green products like ours. That’s a secular trend for this industry, and we’ll continue to see a demand for these greener, renewable products because customers want to buy them.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.trilliumchemicals.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/trillium-renewable-chemicals/
- Twitter: https://x.com/TrilliumChem
