Novomer gets $400,000

By Erin Ailworth, Globe Staff

Novomer Inc. of Waltham is getting $400,000 from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, and help from Kodak Specialty Chemicals to commercialize a process that uses carbon dioxide to make plastics and coating materials like those used in soda bottles and film.

"The main work is going to be done at Kodak," said Mike Slowik, manager of strategic planning and analysis at Novomer, which will be matching the financial contribution from the New York agency. "They have the infrastructure, the capacity to help us scale it up."

Slowik said Novomer's technology, which was developed at Cornell University, uses less energy than traditional plastics manufacturing.

"It uses CO2 as a raw material," he added, meaning that the gas, which contributes to climate change, gets transformed from "pollution into a valuable material."

Novomer is headquartered in Waltham but does its research and development work in Ithaca, NY.