SBIR Phase I: Development of a bioprocess technology for the production of a non-corrosive and environmentally benign deicing chemical from waste byproducts

SBIR 第一阶段：开发生物工艺技术，利用废弃副产品生产无腐蚀性且环境友好的除冰化学品

• 批准号: 1940552
• 负责人: Samuel Degife
• 金额: $ 22.5万
• 依托单位: NATIONAL RESOURCE CONSULTANTS, LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-09-01 至 2022-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1940552&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Development; bioprocess; technology

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project is reduced costs of road and highway infrastructure repairs and environmental benefits from the use of a low-cost biodegradable and non-corrosive deicer substitute for salts. Deicing chemicals are applied to roads in winter for safety. Typical salts are highly corrosive to concrete, reinforcing steel, and bridge decks, and hence cause billions of dollars in road repair and infrastructure rehabilitation costs. Because these salts do not biodegrade, they accumulate in the environment and increase salinity in lakes and ground waters, as well as in water supplies. Acetate-based chemicals are effective deicers with minimal corrosion and environmental effects, but they can be expensive to produce. This project will repurpose wastes to produce a low-cost deicer for reduced infrastructure costs and enhanced environmental quality.The proposed project will provide a new cost-effective low pH bioconversion process for the production of acetic and lactic acids from carbohydrate wastes. There are currently no industrial bioconversion facilities for the production of acetic acid due to the high recovery costs for the sorption or extraction of the acid from the broth at neutral pH. This project will advance bioconversion of sugars at sufficiently low pH values where the product recovery efficiency is high. Acid recovery by adsorption on resins or liquid-liquid extraction is about twelve times more efficient with the proposed process than with anaerobic fermentations that operate at neutral pH. This project will develop a process to utilize abundantly available organic and inorganic wastes in the production of the acetate deicer. Hemicellulose, the second most abundant carbohydrate in nature, is not utilized in ethanol fermentations due to the low efficiency of bioconversion. Hemicellulose hydrolysate will be used as substrate in the proposed process. Continuous fermentations at low pH values will be optimized for high organic acids productivities. Multicomponent adsorption studies will be conducted to optimize the schemes for the recovery of the organic acids from the fermentation broth.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.

该小企业创新研究第一阶段项目的更广泛影响是，通过使用低成本的可生物降解且无腐蚀性的除冰剂替代盐，降低了道路和高速公路基础设施的维修成本，并带来了环境效益。为了安全起见，冬季道路上会使用除冰剂。典型的盐对混凝土、钢筋和桥面具有很强的腐蚀性，因此会导致数十亿美元的道路维修和基础设施修复成本。 由于这些盐不能生物降解，它们会在环境中积聚并增加湖泊、地下水以及供水系统的盐度。醋酸盐化学品是有效的除冰剂，具有最小的腐蚀和环境影响，但其生产成本昂贵。 该项目将重新利用废物来生产低成本除冰剂，以降低基础设施成本并提高环境质量。拟议项目将为从碳水化合物废物中生产乙酸和乳酸提供一种新的具有成本效益的低pH值生物转化工艺。由于在中性 pH 条件下从发酵液中吸附或提取酸的回收成本很高，目前没有用于生产乙酸的工业生物转化设施。该项目将在足够低的 pH 值下推进糖的生物转化，产品回收效率很高。通过树脂吸附或液液萃取进行酸回收的效率比在中性 pH 值下进行的厌氧发酵的效率高出约 12 倍。该项目将开发一种工艺，利用丰富的有机和无机废物来生产醋酸盐除冰剂。半纤维素是自然界中第二丰富的碳水化合物，由于生物转化效率低，不用于乙醇发酵。半纤维素水解产物将用作拟议工艺中的底物。低 pH 值下的连续发酵将被优化以获得高有机酸生产率。将进行多组分吸附研究，以优化从发酵液中回收有机酸的方案。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。