I-Corps: Commercialization of Novel Materials for Agricultural Ammonia Filtration

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AmmoniaShield aims to transform the poultry industry through a simple and effective new adsorbent technology. One of the most difficult problems raising poultry in a traditional poultry house environment is the large concentration of ammonia gas resulting from ureic acid excreted from the birds. As birds are tightly packed within a poultry house; ammonia concentrations inside can quickly rise to dangerous levels resulting in increased mortality, decreased growth, and increased susceptibility to disease outbreaks. The motivation behind this project is to transfer an adsorbent technology originally developed for human respiratory protection to the agricultural industry. Successful technology transfer would greatly improve current ammonia mitigation methods that either rely on house ventilation, incurring ventilation and heating costs, or metal salts, many of which are corrosive, difficult to reapply, and classified as pesticides. Effective ammonia filtration within a poultry environment would remove the significant expense of external ventilation and heating costs. The proposed innovation consists of a novel class of carbonaceous material called carbide derived carbons (CDCs) for adsorbing ammonia. The method to synthesize CDCs consists of selectively etching out metal atoms from particular metal carbides with chlorine gas. Our group has developed specific etching conditions to leave a tailored metal species and a very tightly defined pore size distribution within the material. The particular patent pending CDCs developed by this research group at Georgia Tech are specifically designed to capture ammonia due to its high surface area and active metal sites tuned to maximize interactions with ammonia. This team has further developed this technology to improve ammonia adsorption using lower cost precursors, aiming for true commercial viability. Both generations have been provisionally filed with US Patent Office. The goal of this project is to determine the most adaptable method for our technology, and the greatest benefits over existing methods for the agricultural industry. As opposed to current ammonia mitigation technology, the proposed materials can be fitted into the existing internal air circulation systems inside poultry houses. A non-invasive, low cost, filtration based method as opposed to the current multiple methods used for ammonia abatement would be transformative for the meat production industry.