Project Grant DESC0017854

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) Project Grant award of $275,000 provides funding to Circularity Fuels, Inc., a small business located in Redwood City, CA, to develop a sorbent-enhanced catalytic process for upgrading biogas from wastewater treatment facilities into renewable natural gas (RNG). The project aims to increase the yield of RNG production by converting the carbon dioxide in the biogas into additional methane, while also...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) supports the development of a novel hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) technology to efficiently recover nutrients from animal manure and produce value-added engineered carbon materials. The $205,767 project, awarded to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, aims to optimize nutrient recovery from over one billion tons of animal waste produced annually in the U.S. and create engineered carbon...

This three-year, $390,261 National Science Foundation project grant will fund research at The Washington University to advance the production of volatile fatty acids from organic wastes through anaerobic digestion. Specifically, the university will investigate using hydrogen peroxide generated via bioelectrochemical conversion to inhibit methanogenesis and maximize valuable chemical yields. Researchers will study inhibition mechanisms, evaluate membrane separation systems, and explore...

This $1,250,000 Cooperative Agreement award from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (CFDA 81.089 - Fossil Energy Research and Development) is funding Global Algae Innovations, Inc., a small disadvantaged business, to develop and demonstrate an integrated process for producing algal-based polyurethane consumer products from flue gas carbon dioxide. The key objectives include: 1) scaling up algal oil extraction and fatty acid separation, 2) optimizing the...

Via Biofuels Inc. received a $175,000 Project Grant award from the Institute of Bioenergy, Climate, and Environment under the USDA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program (CFDA 10.212) on September 1, 2025. The company is developing a genetically engineered yeast strain capable of converting lactose from whey permeate—a waste byproduct of dairy processing—into 3-methylanisole (3-MA), a versatile chemical that can serve as a gasoline replacement, precursor for plastics, and...

The Department of Energy's Office of Science awarded a $256,494 Project Grant to Semplastics EHC LLC, a for-profit limited liability company, to develop high-value products from produced water mineralized via reaction with anthropogenic CO2. This award is funded through the Office of Science Financial Assistance Program (CFDA 81.049), which supports scientific discoveries and tools that advance U.S. energy, economic, and national security. Semplastics previously received over $8 million in prime...

This $274,042 Project Grant awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) program supports the development and demonstration of a bench-scale reactor for a high-temperature reverse water-gas shift (RWGS) process. The project aims to improve the materials and design of the RWGS reactor, which can produce electrofuels (e-fuels) from electricity, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen as a low-carbon alternative to fossil fuels,...

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...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $256,000 Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) project grant to Sofi Tec, LLC, a woman-owned small business, to develop affordable and efficient new chemical processes for the conversion of natural gas to alcohols. The project aims to reduce methane emissions and mitigate carbon dioxide emissions by capturing and converting methane from flaring and venting, which is expected to have environmental benefits and provide a commercially...

This $275,000 federal Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) program supports the development, modeling, and validation of a novel technology to enhance the efficiency of anaerobic digestion for biogas generation from organic waste. The project, led by Elif Environmental LLC, aims to leverage microwaves and electromagnetic fields to improve anaerobic fermentation efficiency by at least 20% across a range of...