Cooperative Agreement DEEE0011115

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, awarded $175,000 under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program to KSE, Inc. of Sunderland, Massachusetts. The award will support KSE's efforts to develop and scale an integrated process for converting lignocellulosic waste streams into 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) at high selectivity without pre-treatment of biomass compounds. Key activities include improving reactive...

This three-year, $600,000 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) will fund research at the University of California, Davis to develop a scalable and sustainable process for nano-cellulose production by leveraging the surface activity of hydrophobin bio-surfactants. The goal is to improve the rate and extent of enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose for conversion into nano-cellulose and value-added fuels and chemicals. Researchers will examine how...

Integrated Lipid Biofuels LLC was awarded a $650,000 Project Grant from the US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. The two-year award will support the company's efforts to develop a process for converting organic waste into biopolymers by synergizing anaerobic digestion and synthetic biology techniques. The SBIR Program aims to stimulate technological innovation through the investment of federal...

The Department of Energy Office of Science awarded Innosense Corporation a $1.92 million project grant under the Office of Science Financial Assistance Program (CFDA 81.049) to support the development of efficient and cost-effective enzymatic conversion of lignocellulose feedstock to useful bioproducts. The three-year award, issued on February 22, 2021 with a completion date of April 3, 2024, will fund Innosense's work breaking down lignocellulose into bioproducts using novel enzyme...

This three-year, $600,000 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) will fund research at the University of Virginia to develop a scalable and sustainable process for nano cellulose production by leveraging the surface activity of hydrophobin biosurfactants. The goal is to improve the rate and extent of enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose for conversion into nano cellulose and value-added fuels and chemicals. Researchers will examine how hydrophobins...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Convergence Accelerator Track M award of $649,990 to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) supports the development and commercialization of a family of sustainable bio-based plastics derived from hydroxy fatty acids. Key activities include scaling up monomer synthesis, conducting polymer characterization and recycling assessments, and performing techno-economic and life cycle analyses. RPI is collaborating with Danimer Scientific, a bioplastics...

This National Science Foundation Project Grant of $198,114 supports collaborative research at Michigan State University to develop a low-energy tandem process for fractionating and reversibly preserving lignocellulose using multifunctional aldehyde sulfonic acids. The research will test the hypothesis that aldehyde sulfonic acids can more effectively and selectively fractionate lignocellulose than current mineral/organic acid and aldehyde combinations under mild conditions. It aims to maximize...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) Project Grant award of $274,918 to Cascade Biocatalysts Inc. will fund research and development to demonstrate the commercial feasibility and scalability of a patent-pending approach for stabilizing enzymes through engineered polymer-enzyme interactions. The goal is to enable environmentally sustainable, low-carbon chemical manufacturing processes that utilize enzymes as catalysts, which can decrease...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Business Cooperative Services awarded a $10,000,000 Project Grant to Allotrope Cellulosic Development Company LLC in Orinda, California under the Biobased Market Development and Access Grant Program (CFDA 10.376). The grant supports the development of advanced biomanufacturing technologies, including anaerobic fermentation, yeast microbe modification, and cellulosic biorefinery facilities. The project aims to build or operate an Integrated Demonstration...

This Cooperative Agreement award of $2,572,498.00 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) program, with a performance period from May 1, 2025 to Apr 30, 2028, aims to develop new bioplastics with diverse properties. The project will computationally design complex enzymes within engineered bacteria to produce novel, sturdy bioplastics that can withstand high temperatures and be easily recycled or biodegraded. This effort will strengthen supply...