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.

这个小企业创新研究 (SBIR) 第一阶段项目的更广泛/商业影响是能够将常见的聚苯乙烯泡沫废物回收到土壤改良剂中：每年从无处不在的有害废物中创造出有价值的农产品。聚苯乙烯废物填埋垃圾填埋场、污染路边或污染水道——占所有海洋塑料废物的 80%，需要几个世纪才能分解，最终分解的聚苯乙烯可能会对环境产生可怕的影响。该项目旨在将成熟的技术与新发现的微生物消化聚苯乙烯的能力结合起来，展示一种将聚苯乙烯重新制成营养丰富的农业用材料的方法，因为聚苯乙烯废物的供应量巨大且具有巨大的商业价值。该项目挖掘了商业潜力，不仅可以为服务严重不足的市场提供废物处理服务，而且可以同时生产有价值的农产品。该项目通过推进国家科学基金会的使命来支持国家科学基金会的使命。该项目旨在利用独特的技术组合来展示生物修复科学，通过消除环境中的有害废物来促进国家的健康和福祉，并通过为大型行业提供急需的服务来支持国家繁荣。该项目的研究和开发工作在于将未经加工的废物转化为聚苯乙烯的复杂过程。通过热和生物方法将其分解为生物塑料和有机酸，然后通过分解生物进一步改良并形成可用的农产品，该生物反应器将与以前从未用于此目的的众多微生物菌株和物种一起使用。这项研究将揭示许多物种在多个尺度上消化聚苯乙烯废物的特定能力，并将评估产生的消化物的几种潜在途径。大样本量、条件的逐步变化以及物种组合的排列将用于确保统计准确性，再加上尖端分析设备的使用，将确保结果的高精度。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。