Ken Kurple, a polymer chemist, founded Lenox Resources, and began searching for a replacement material. With the help from a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy's Inventions and Innovation Program, Ken developed a process and found a replacement material for petroleum-based resins in a naturally occuring substance called lignin, which is the third most common material found in trees (after cellulose and water).

References:

• http://www.eere.energy.gov/inventions/pdfs/lenox.pdf