Project Grant DEAR0001656

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) provides $579,227 to The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York to develop an integrated biochemical and physicochemical process to recover critical metals from municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills. The project aims to: 1) characterize critical metal content in existing landfill leachates, 2) examine the use of in-situ biofilms for bioleaching, 3) elucidate the complex chemistry of...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $2,000,000 Project Grant under CFDA 47.041 "Engineering" to The Johns Hopkins University to implement a novel approach for capturing and recovering scarce metals like nickel and cobalt from waste lithium-ion batteries using biofluids from fungi combined with advanced electrochemical techniques. The project aims to enhance the extraction of these valuable metals through the identification of efficient metal biomining compounds, metabolic...

Precient Technologies LLC received a $256,000 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program (CFDA 47.084) to develop a membrane biofilm reactor technology for recovering valuable metals from wastewaters. The one-year project aims to quantify reduction and precipitation kinetics using hydrogen-delivering biofilms to recover up to 99% of precious metals like platinum group metals and rare earth elements in solid nanoparticle...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I award to Reegen Inc. for $275,000 will support the development of a clean, biological system for extracting and purifying rare earth elements (REEs) from various waste and end-of-life sources. The project aims to reduce the negative environmental impacts of REE production and decrease U.S. dependence on imported REEs, which are critical for manufacturing modern electronics and sustainable energy...

This Project Grant award of $520,855, provided by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041), supports the development of new biomaterials and microbial catalysts that can efficiently recover and recycle critical minerals from waste streams. The project, a collaboration between researchers in the United States and India, aims to engineer peptides, enzymes, and whole cells that can bind and reduce critical minerals, which are essential for manufacturing a wide range...

This Cooperative Agreement from the National Science Foundation's Engineering program provides $976,200 to Nth Cycle Inc. to develop an electrochemical separation device for recycling cobalt and nickel from lithium-ion batteries. The two-year award running from February 2022 to January 2024 aims to validate Nth Cycle's novel electro-extraction nanotechnology for battery recycling and cobalt mining. Specifically, the company will test a flow-through water electrolysis process using high local...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) project grant under CFDA 47.041 - Engineering aims to develop an innovative and integrated bio- and physico-chemical process to effectively recover critical metals from municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill leachates. The $915,128 award to Purdue University, with a project period from August 1, 2024 to July 31, 2028, will fund research to: 1) characterize critical metal content in existing US landfill leachates, 2) examine the use of in-situ biofilms for...

The Department of Energy awarded a $450,000 Project Grant under the Office of Science Financial Assistance Program (CFDA 81.049) to the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) to explore the feasibility of using computational molecular modeling for the recovery of critical metals through aqua-mining. The project, titled "Exploring the Feasibility of Aqua-Mining for Recovery of Critical Metals Using Computational Molecular Modeling," has an award date of August 15, 2024, and a...

This $275,999 National Science Foundation Project Grant supports the development of an environmentally friendly rare earth element extraction process from recycled fluorescent light bulb powder. The awardee, IM Technologies LLC, will engineer a prototype reactor system that uses precision ultra-high temperature heating to evaporate and subsequently condense targeted rare earth constituents from light bulb waste. Research tasks include optimizing thermal energy applications to efficiently extract...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $300,000 Early-Concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) under the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) to Boston College to investigate a new biohydrometallurgic approach for recycling spent lithium-ion batteries. The project aims to utilize microorganisms, specifically Acidothiobacillus ferrooxidans bacteria, to recover key battery cathode minerals such as nickel, cobalt, and manganese in a green, self-sustaining manner. This 2-year project...