Cooperative Agreement DEEE0009298

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 $465,000 National Science Foundation project grant will support the development of an upcycling strategy for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic waste through chemical transformations producing value-added products. Funded under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049), Professor Rebecca Braslau of the University of California, Santa Cruz will work to convert PVC into 1,5-hexadiene and other alkane products using mild temperatures and ambient pressure. These efforts aim...

This federal Project Grant award for $650,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program supports research at the University of California, Riverside (UC Riverside) to develop new methods for the environmental-friendly depolymerization and recycling of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic waste. The research aims to discover and utilize plastic-degrading enzymes to break down PET polymers into their monomers of terephthalic acid...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Project Grant, awarded under the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041), will fund research to develop a novel biocatalytic process for deconstructing and recycling polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics. The $378,682 award to the University of Colorado aims to explore the use of natural enzymes, such as lipases, to break down PET in nonaqueous solvents rather than water, which can improve the efficiency and conversion of plastic waste. The research will...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems Project Grant for $331,415, awarded on September 1, 2023, aims to develop a novel biocatalytic process for the deconstruction of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics. The project will explore the use of natural enzymes, such as lipase, to catalyze the alcoholysis of PET in non-aqueous solvents. This approach seeks to improve the efficiency and conversion of plastic waste using...

This Cooperative Agreement award, provided by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) under the Clean Energy Demonstrations program (CFDA 81.255), aims to demonstrate the commercial and technical viability of chemically recycled polyethene terephthalate (CRPET) at a first-of-a-kind chemical recycling facility. The $375,000,000 project, awarded to Eastman Chemical Company, intends to create demand for recyclable waste streams, improve recycling...

This $180,000 project grant awarded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (CFDA 10.310) supports research to immobilize the PETase enzyme onto activated charcoal to enhance its stability and reusability for the degradation of microplastics in water treatment systems. The key objectives are to optimize immobilization conditions and demonstrate the effectiveness of the immobilized PETase in degrading microplastics in...

This Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program totaling $275,030 will fund the development of technology to extract cellulosic raw materials from post-consumer textile waste. The awardee, Regenerated Textile Industries LLC of Everett, Washington, will optimize a non-destructive extraction process to convert end-of-life textile waste into high-value cellulosic feedstocks of equal or greater quality than virgin materials at the kilogram...

PKS Consulting Inc. received a $125,000 Project Grant award from the Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture to develop a mobile recycling system for plastic ocean waste in Alaska. The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program aims to stimulate technological innovation through federal research funding. Under this SBIR award, PKS Consulting will design a modular plastic recycling unit to convert polyethelyne terephthalate (PET) plastic retrieved from ocean...

The Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy awarded a $2,150,000 Cooperative Agreement under the Conservation Research and Development (CFDA 81.086) program to Washington State University. The objective of the project is to research and develop a pilot-scale upcycling protocol for transforming carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) waste into recyclable structural automotive components. The project aims to establish an eco-friendly, energy-efficient, and...