Air Products has donated a portfolio of U.S. and foreign patents on making vinyl acetate monomer (VAM), a key ingredient in products ranging from emulsion paint to chewing gum, to UC Davis. The donation will support work on catalysis by Bruce Gates, professor of chemical engineering and materials science, and his laboratory.

Gates' laboratory will use the technology for further research and graduate teaching. The UC Davis scientists will be able to add to the existing patents and file new applications based on their research. The university will be able to license the technology to companies for commercial development through its Technology Transfer Center. Any future royalties or licensing fees from the patents, or from new inventions derived from the technology, will benefit UC.

"The VAM technology donation is in the very able hands of UC Davis," said John Tao of Air Products, a producer of atmospheric gases, process and specialty gases, performance materials and chemical intermediates to customers worldwide. "This institution has the enviable combination of a globally recognized center for heterogeneous catalysis research in Professor Bruce Gates' laboratories of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, combined with the proactive and successful Technology Transfer Center."

Barry Klein, vice chancellor for research at UC Davis, said: "Equipped with these patents, Professor Gates and his students will now be able to pick up this technology and run with it."

VAM is a starting material for manufacturing a wide variety of products including latex emulsion paint, adhesives, ceramics, coatings and paper products. The current commercial process for making VAM uses acetic acid, ethylene and oxygen as raw materials, with a liquid catalyst. The new process patented by Air Products uses a mix of gases derived from natural gas as a raw material, with a solid catalyst, making separation of products from the catalyst easier. Acetic acid is a byproduct of that process.

Initial tests indicated that with further development of the catalyst, the new method could be significantly less expensive than conventional technology. So the company began searching for a university on which to confer its technology and identified Gates' laboratory at UC Davis due to its expertise in catalysis.

This donation extends Air Products' partnership with UC Davis, which includes an association with the Institute of Transportation Studies. The institute recently dedicated a new Air Products hydrogen fueling station on campus as part of its research and demonstration programs on transportation technology.