For some, inspiration comes on a long walk or in the shower. For Scott Fulbright, Ph.D, it was while in the greeting card aisle at the Ft. Collins Safeway when he was shopping for his grandmother’s birthday.
For years, Fulbright and his business partner, Stevan Albers, Ph.D, had been searching for a consumer good that could compete with petroleum-based products in the marketplace. On that shopping trip, Fulbright realized that all the cards were coated in petroleum-based inks and colors, which is not a unique situation. In fact, over 60 products come from one barrel of heavy oil.
Fulbright and Albers met on their very first day of a Ph.D program at CSU back in 2009 and quickly realized that they shared a vision and a focus. Both wanted to use algae in a cutting-edge, carbon-negative way, rather than becoming professors or joining an existing biofuel company. Between Fulbright’s previous experience in biofuels and his research into algae in open ponds and Albers’ research into genetically manipulating algae to create new colors, they were in a unique position to actually make that happen.
After at least one Kickstarter campaign and several competitions, grants, and iterations later, Living Ink is doing just that with their ALGAE INK™ and ALGAE BLACK™ pigment. This Berthoud-based company partners with absolute behemoths in consumer goods, like New Balance and Patagonia, and other Colorado-based favorites, like Crocs and EcoEnclose, to create hangtags, apparel, packaging, and more that use an algae-based ink, instead of their petroleum-based competitor.
They’ve even created a Nike sneaker in a collaboration with Billie Eilish, which is far beyond what Fulbright and Albers could have imagined doing with their advanced degrees in Cell and Molecular Biology. They’re hopeful products like this can soon scale up to a typical 30 million-unit order, versus a limited-edition project that produced 400,000 units.
Their biggest hurdle in getting there is not their own production, but is, in fact, price parity. The brands they currently work with are willing to pay a little bit more for something that’s good. In Living Ink’s process, they’re able to create a 200% carbon footprint reduction with a shelf-stable, scalable product. It really is a climate tech industry unicorn, because it’s both easy to understand and has the potential to eventually compete on price. For context, petroleum-based carbon black currently sits at about $2/kilogram, thanks in part to subsidies.
In their effort to reach price parity, they’re planning to bring a production facility to Berthoud and then additional ones closer to the biomass facilities, actually growing the algae. Colorado is a huge part of their business story, in addition to being where they met and where they’re based. Early on in the business, Living Ink had a grant from the National Science Foundation, but could not use the money for equipment. A grant from the state was instrumental in turning all their ideas and potential into actual prototypes.
“Looking back, it was that grant that got us going,” says Fulbright. “I feel like the ROI has been pretty high.”
Both Fulbright and Albers speak highly of the community in Berthoud and beyond as they continue to strive to solve very complex problems. Since Covid completely upended the supply chain and current tariff speculation continues to seed uncertainty, its partners in the manufacturing space and beyond that allow Living Ink to continue to disrupt and push for new solutions.
“It’s been great to be around that kind of community when trying to address these grand challenges with so many components,” says Albers. “You just cant do it by yourself.”
To learn more about Living Ink, head to LivingInk.co.