Xyleco is a privately held scientific research and manufacturing company in

Wakefield, Massachusetts Wakefield is a New England town, town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston, greater Boston metropolitan area, municipal corporation, incorporated in 1812 in the United States, 1812 and located about north-nor ...

. Xyleco is developing a process to convert

biomass Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how ...

into useful products, including

cellulosic ethanol Cellulosic ethanol is ethanol (ethyl alcohol) produced from cellulose (the stringy fiber of a plant) rather than from the plant's seeds or fruit. It can be produced from grasses, wood, algae, or other plants. It is generally discussed for use as a ...

. The board of directors includes

Steven Chu Steven ChuGeorge Shultz George Pratt Shultz ( ; December 13, 1920February 6, 2021) was an American economist, businessman, diplomat and statesman. He served in various positions under two different Republican presidents and is one of the only two persons to have held f ...

was a board member until his death in February of 2021. Employee reviews of Xyleco are mixed. Some workers are extremely optimistic as the company grows, while other workers find management secretive and manipulative. Xyleco's process involves using

ionizing radiation Ionizing (ionising) radiation, including Radioactive decay, nuclear radiation, consists of subatomic particles or electromagnetic waves that have enough energy per individual photon or particle to ionization, ionize atoms or molecules by detaching ...

from an electron

particle accelerator A particle accelerator is a machine that uses electromagnetic fields to propel electric charge, charged particles to very high speeds and energies to contain them in well-defined particle beam, beams. Small accelerators are used for fundamental ...

to break apart

cellulose Cellulose is an organic compound with the chemical formula, formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to many thousands of glycosidic bond, β(1→4) linked glucose, D-glucose units. Cellulose is an important s ...

molecules. Accelerators are energy-intensive, but treatment times are short.

History

According to a 2019 story on "

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style o ...

", the company was started by Marshall Medoff, a then 81-year old without a formal science education. He got his inspiration by spending time at

Walden Pond Walden Pond is a historic pond in Concord, Massachusetts, in the United States. A good example of a kettle hole, it was formed by retreating glaciers 10,000–12,000 years ago. The pond is protected as part of Walden Pond State Reservation, a ...

, and studying research papers in a storage facility for 15 years. During that time, he was granted over 300 patents. Several 2002 patents were for plastic-cellulose-fiber composites expected to be stronger than ordinary plastic based on resins and wood fiber. In 2004, Rubbermaid agreed to work with Xyleco to develop a material that would be stronger and cheaper than current materials. In 2009, Medoff hired his first employee, Craig Masterman, an MIT graduate in chemistry. Using $45 million from investors, they built a testing laboratory in

, in March 2015.

Marshall Medoff

Marshall Medoff was born December 30, 1937. He died November 17th, 2021.

Company reputation

Xyleco came to public attention in January 2019, when Lesley Stahl did a "60 Minutes" piece lauding Medoff as an eccentric but remarkably successful inventor. Two months later, Lux Research published a review stating that "Lux views Xyleco with a great deal of skepticism... ven its incorrect claims regarding the bioeconomy, exorbitantly expensive patent portfolio, unclear technology development history, and esteemed yet unrelated board, Lux believes that Xyleco is likely a scam." Reviewers on Reddit were also highly skeptical of Medoff's claims.

References

Biomass Sustainable energy Particle accelerators {{US-company-stub

History

Marshall Medoff

Company reputation

See also

References