Cooperative Agreement DEEE0009266

The National Science Foundation awarded Optisort LLC a $255,644 Project Grant under the Engineering federal grant program (CFDA 47.041) to develop a robotic vertical glass sorter powered by machine vision and artificial intelligence for glass recycling. The sorter will utilize computer vision and AI technologies to accurately identify and separate glass materials during the recycling process, enabling more accessible, sustainable, and cost-effective glass recycling. The one-year grant period...

This Cooperative Agreement award of $995,163 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) program supports the development of an autonomous waste sorting platform for decentralized pre-processing at high-traffic venues. The project aims to create a compact, high-throughput, and turnkey sorting system that leverages computer vision and machine learning to accurately identify and sort diverse waste streams, enabling improved landfill...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) program (CFDA 47.084) Project Grant award of $274,955 to Refibered Inc. is focused on developing an artificial intelligence-based material detection system to accurately identify key materials and contaminants in textile waste. The goal is to enable more effective textile recycling by providing recyclers with well-sorted feedstock. The proposed approach involves using hyperspectral cameras and machine...

This Project Grant award of $2,999,999.00 from the National Science Foundation's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) to Clarkson University supports research to develop novel cyber technologies that enable "recyclofacturing" - the custom manufacturing of products from scrap or consumer materials at metal recycling facilities. The key objectives are to advance artificial intelligence for automated CAD model generation from user specifications, provide extended reality guidance to workers,...

This $287,941 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) aims to develop a novel biochemical sensor technology that can quantify small plastic particles in human blood serum samples. The research project will leverage quantum-coherent light-matter interactions on engineered photonic metasurfaces to advance the analytical performance of mid-infrared absorption spectroscopy. Key objectives include: 1) developing new sensor chips, 2)...

This $350,000 Project Grant awarded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) program to Oregon State University aims to develop an integrated circuit hardware system and data collection/decision support metrics to establish a quantitative information ecosystem for electronic device reuse and recycling. The key activities under this 3-year project include: 1) Developing low-cost wireless tags to provide recyclers with easy-to-read...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $998,320 Cooperative Agreement under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) program (CFDA 47.084) to Applied Ocean Sciences, LLC to develop an innovative ultrasound-based sensor for real-time detection and characterization of microplastics in water. This project aims to revolutionize microplastics monitoring capabilities by creating a rapid, cost-effective solution compared to existing optical-based methods. The sensor leverages...

This $525,000 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) will support research at the University of California, Irvine to advance the fundamental understanding of sustainable chemical processes for plastic waste deconstruction and upcycling. The research aims to uncover the molecular mechanisms underlying the hydrogenolysis of polyethylene, the world's most common plastic, which can transform plastic waste into valuable chemicals and materials....

This $250,000 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) supports a collaborative research effort to investigate the use of CO2-H2O mixtures as a tunable media to improve the chemical recycling of poly(ethylene) terephthalate (PET) plastic waste. The primary objectives are to (1) elucidate the impact of CO2 on PET polymer morphology, phase behavior, and reagent transport during acid-catalyzed hydrolysis, and (2) understand the...

This $510,000 federal Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049) aims to develop a practical and scalable approach for the universal compatibilization of polymers, facilitating the recycling of mixed plastic waste. The project, led by the University of California, Irvine, will investigate two innovative compatibilization methods based on dynamic covalent chemistry. The first method will introduce dynamic crosslinks...