SBIR Phase I: Bioreactors for Upcycling Pyrolyzed Polystyrene Waste into Organic Fertilizer

SBIR 第一阶段：将热解聚苯乙烯废物升级为有机肥料的生物反应器

• 批准号: 2303842
• 负责人: Samuel Baker
• 金额: $ 27.47万
• 依托单位: PRAG LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-01 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2303842&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Bioreactors; Upcycling; Pyrolyzed

The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to enable the recycling of common polystyrene foam waste into soil amendments: creating a valuable agricultural product out of a pernicious and ubiquitous waste. Annually, millions of pounds of polystyrene waste fill landfills, blot roadsides, or pollute waterways – making up 80% of all ocean plastic waste. Taking centuries to decompose, when finally broken down polystyrene may have terrible impacts on health. This project seeks to combine proven technologies with newly discovered abilities in microorganisms to digest polystyrene, to demonstrate a means by which polystyrene can be reconstituted into nutrient-rich material useful in agriculture. Because of the vast supply of polystyrene waste and the great commercial need to dispose of it, this project taps into a commercial potential not only to provide waste disposal services to a much underserved market but can do so while simultaneously producing a valuable agricultural good. This project supports the NSF’s mission by advancing the science of bioremediation, advancing the health and welfare of the nation by removing a harmful waste product from the environment, and supporting national prosperity by providing a much-needed service to a large industry. This project seeks to use a unique combination of technologies to demonstrate that polystyrene foam waste can be processed and bioremediated rapidly into a soil amending “castings” ready for use in gardening, farming, or landscaping. The project's research and development effort lies in the complex process of converting polystyrene from an unprocessed waste into both bioplastics and organic acids by way of thermal and biological methods, before further amelioration by decomposer organisms and the formation of a usable agricultural product. Bioreactors featuring numerous strains and species of microbes never-before deployed for this purpose will be used in tandem with macro-organisms whose capabilities for this application are likewise mostly or entirely unstudied. This research will uncover the specific abilities of numerous species to digest polystyrene waste at multiple scales and will evaluate several potential pathways through which the resulting digestate could be further processed. Large sample sizes, stepwise variances in conditions, and permutations of species’ combinations will be used to ensure statistical veracity. These methods, coupled with the use of cutting-edge analytical equipment, will ensure a high precision in results.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.

小型企业创新研究（SBIR）的更广泛/委员会的一阶段纳入土壤修正案：用有害和无处不在的废物制造农产品。最终，分解的聚苯乙烯可能会在微生物中与消化聚苯乙烯的纽带，以证明可以将聚苯乙烯重组成富含营养的材料的手段，这是由于多种浪费而有用的。其中，该项目涉及商业潜力，不仅是为较低的市场提供废物处理服务，而且可以同时产生有价值的农业利益，从而支持NSF的使命。通过从环境中消除有害废物的福利，并通过为大型行业提供急需的服务来支持国家繁荣。园林绿化。为此，E部署将与宏观有限的宏观有机化相同，大多数情况下或完全未研究。条件的差异和“组合”的排列确保统计准确性。