2415744
Project Grant
Overview
Grant Description
SBIR Phase I: Optical methods for improving productivity of microalgae cultivation - The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is in removing carbon dioxide and other pollutants generated by agriculture.
Concentrated animal feeding operations are an integral element in the American economy and food system.
Today, manure from dairy and swine operations is stored in lagoons where it festers for months before eventually being spread as fertilizer.
Lagoon runoff contaminates the environment and endangers public health downstream, causing hundreds of billions of dollars in losses; methane and nitrous oxide gases pollute and warm the atmosphere; and valuable nutrients are lost.
Rather than being in conflict with our environmental, health, and resource stewardship priorities, this project will help empower animal farms to be climate positive.
This project creates that connection, enabling animal farm wastes today to efficiently, cleanly, and easily become fertilizer or animal feed for farms tomorrow.
And because the technology captures carbon, farmers can verifiably store the carbon in soil, thereby empowering large farms and small farms alike to sell into the burgeoning carbon economy.
This project develops a new class of illumination methods that will enable an ultra-high density, high efficiency microalgae hybrid-photobioreactor scrubber for reactive carbon capture at the source in agriculture waste management systems.
Algae bioreactors under development in this SBIR Phase I project may bridge the productivity gap between low-cost manure ponds and expensive algal biofuel photobioreactors.
Productivity of microalgae reactors is generally limited by light distribution, as the algae nearest the surface consume all the light.
New low-cost optical methods in optics and reactor management will allow natural sunlight to be delivered within the algae volume rather than at the surface, thus vastly accelerating carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus capture during wastewater processing, at no extra energy cost.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Subawards are not planned for this award.
Concentrated animal feeding operations are an integral element in the American economy and food system.
Today, manure from dairy and swine operations is stored in lagoons where it festers for months before eventually being spread as fertilizer.
Lagoon runoff contaminates the environment and endangers public health downstream, causing hundreds of billions of dollars in losses; methane and nitrous oxide gases pollute and warm the atmosphere; and valuable nutrients are lost.
Rather than being in conflict with our environmental, health, and resource stewardship priorities, this project will help empower animal farms to be climate positive.
This project creates that connection, enabling animal farm wastes today to efficiently, cleanly, and easily become fertilizer or animal feed for farms tomorrow.
And because the technology captures carbon, farmers can verifiably store the carbon in soil, thereby empowering large farms and small farms alike to sell into the burgeoning carbon economy.
This project develops a new class of illumination methods that will enable an ultra-high density, high efficiency microalgae hybrid-photobioreactor scrubber for reactive carbon capture at the source in agriculture waste management systems.
Algae bioreactors under development in this SBIR Phase I project may bridge the productivity gap between low-cost manure ponds and expensive algal biofuel photobioreactors.
Productivity of microalgae reactors is generally limited by light distribution, as the algae nearest the surface consume all the light.
New low-cost optical methods in optics and reactor management will allow natural sunlight to be delivered within the algae volume rather than at the surface, thus vastly accelerating carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus capture during wastewater processing, at no extra energy cost.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Subawards are not planned for this award.
Awardee
Funding Goals
THE GOAL OF THIS FUNDING OPPORTUNITY, "NSF SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR)/ SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER (STTR) PROGRAMS PHASE I", IS IDENTIFIED IN THE LINK: HTTPS://WWW.NSF.GOV/PUBLICATIONS/PUB_SUMM.JSP?ODS_KEY=NSF23515
Grant Program (CFDA)
Awarding / Funding Agency
Place of Performance
Mountain View,
California
94043-4021
United States
Geographic Scope
Single Zip Code
Mvmnt-X was awarded
Project Grant 2415744
worth $275,000
from National Science Foundation in August 2024 with work to be completed primarily in Mountain View California United States.
The grant
has a duration of 1 year and
was awarded through assistance program 47.084 NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships.
The Project Grant was awarded through grant opportunity NSF Small Business Innovation Research / Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I Programs.
SBIR Details
Research Type
SBIR Phase I
Title
SBIR Phase I: Optical methods for improving productivity of microalgae cultivation
Abstract
The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is in removing carbon dioxide and other pollutants generated by agriculture. Concentrated animal feeding operations are an integral element in the American economy and food system. Today, manure from dairy and swine operations is stored in lagoons where it festers for months before eventually being spread as fertilizer. Lagoon runoff contaminates the environment and endangers public health downstream, causing hundreds of billions of dollars in losses; methane and nitrous oxide gases pollute and warm the atmosphere; and valuable nutrients are lost. Rather than being in conflict with our environmental, health, and resource stewardship priorities, this project will help empower animal farms to be climate positive. This project creates that connection, enabling animal farm wastes today to efficiently, cleanly, and easily become fertilizer or animal feed for farms tomorrow. And because the technology captures carbon, farmers can verifiably store the carbon in soil, thereby empowering large farms and small farms alike to sell into the burgeoning carbon economy.
This project develops a new class of illumination methods that will enable an ultra-high density, high efficiency microalgae hybrid-photobioreactor scrubber for reactive carbon capture at the source in agriculture waste management systems. Algae bioreactors under development in this SBIR Phase I project may bridge the productivity gap between low-cost manure ponds and expensive algal biofuel photobioreactors. Productivity of microalgae reactors is generally limited by light distribution, as the algae nearest the surface consume all the light. New low-cost optical methods in optics and reactor management will allow natural sunlight to be delivered within the algae volume rather than at the surface, thus vastly accelerating carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus capture during wastewater processing, at no extra energy cost.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Topic Code
ET
Solicitation Number
NSF 23-515
Status
(Ongoing)
Last Modified 8/27/24
Period of Performance
8/15/24
Start Date
7/31/25
End Date
Funding Split
$275.0K
Federal Obligation
$0.0
Non-Federal Obligation
$275.0K
Total Obligated
Activity Timeline
Additional Detail
Award ID FAIN
2415744
SAI Number
None
Award ID URI
SAI EXEMPT
Awardee Classifications
Small Business
Awarding Office
491503 TRANSLATIONAL IMPACTS
Funding Office
491503 TRANSLATIONAL IMPACTS
Awardee UEI
KM41QPCZR5N7
Awardee CAGE
8PX00
Performance District
CA-16
Senators
Dianne Feinstein
Alejandro Padilla
Alejandro Padilla
Modified: 8/27/24