Ok...I might give them the 'commercially' part, but I recall being part of the Boy Scouts of America Explorers, and working with Sohio back in the late 1970's at their research facility in Warrensville, Ohio. WE, were working on developing an oil extraction method for tar sands. The researchers at the time couldn't figure out how to break the bond between the sand and oil. Ahem, our young explorer team pointed them in the right direction by adding various solvents to the research samples we were provided.
Big difference for business between trying and succeeding...
Succeeding in business requires economics, not just technology.