The global defense industrial base faces an ongoing challenge: critical supply chain bottlenecks. Key materials like nitrocellulose-essential for everything from small arms to tactical rocket motors-have historically relied on legacy agricultural feedstocks like cotton linters and wood pulp.

We recently sat down with Janes International Defence Review to discuss some of our R&D work on nitration and how next-generation bio-industrial manufacturing can perhaps solve long-standing supply constraints to strengthen domestic defense production.

Why Biology Might Matter for Energetics

Traditional chemical manufacturing relies on rigid, single-purpose infrastructure tied directly to petroleum and classic agriculture. When those supply chains fracture, production stalls.

Biomanufacturing takes a radically different approach:

• Decoupled Supply Chains: By using engineered micro-organisms and fermentation, essential precursors can be produced domestically from accessible, scalable feedstocks.
• Higher Purity at the Source: High-volume energetics demand high purity-specifically alpha cellulose-for optimal stability and performance. Biology gives us the tools to explore bio-derived cellulose engineered for high purity from the start.
• Domestic Resilience: Shifting key precursors to domestic biomanufacturing creates a stable, repeatable supply line decoupled from volatile global markets.

Nitrating Alternative Cellulose

Developing a bio-derived chemical or material is only half the battle. As our team highlighted to Janes, a bio-derived input must perform strictly against military specifications (like MIL-DTL-244C) to be truly mission-ready.

Through our R&D capabilities in Parsons, Kansas and Bristol, UK, Supply Energetics serves as a critical characterization and nitration partner for the bio-industrial sector:

1. Testing Bio-Derived Inputs: Partnering with consortiums like BioMADE and leading biotech innovators, we take biomanufactured alternative cellulose and run it through rigorous nitration testing.
2. Optimizing Process Parameters: Bio-cellulose structural profiles differ from traditional cotton linters or wood pulp. We continuously refine process controls-balancing temperature, acid recovery, and nitration efficiency-to match legacy performance baselines.
3. Paving the Path to Scale: While we scale our production toward millions of pounds of nitrocellulose using established inputs, our long-term vision includes integrating scalable, bio-derived feedstocks that meet or exceed mil-spec standards at a competitive cost.

Read the full coverage on how biomanufacturing is supporting the defense industrial base:

Feature: Bio-industrial manufacturing works towards scaled production (Jane's International Defence Review, by Jeremiah Cushman)