SBIR Phase I: Optimizing effluent uptake and bioactive stability of Asparagopsis taxiformis as a methane-reducing livestock feed additive

这项小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛影响是改善反刍牲畜（即：海草）的甲烷还原海藻饲料添加剂的生长和加工参数。牛)。在全球范围内，牲畜甲烷排放量占全球温室气体排放总量的10%。最近的饲料试验表明，一种特殊的热带红色海藻可以帮助反刍动物减少98%以上的甲烷排放量。拟议的项目将通过探索陆地养殖系统中自然采光优化的三种新解决方案，分析和整合水产养殖废水（AWW）作为循环营养流，以及采用能源密集型行业标准的替代处理方法，大规模推进这种饲料添加剂。这些生长过程可能应用于其他用途的藻类生产，例如食品，而干燥创新预计将广泛适用于热带气候。拟议的SBIR一期项目将以在陆基系统中种植夏威夷杉状天冬酰胺为基础，并对所需代谢物的产量和浓度进行优化。太阳位置和辐照度的日变化，以及藻类自遮光造成的遮挡，导致光合作用效率低下。AWW含有大量的废氮、废磷；鱼饲料中只有20-30%的氮被保留在鱼类生物量中。AWW的整合将回收其中的一些营养物质，并避免污染的下游后果，如富营养化。虽然干燥材料对于生产货架稳定的产品很重要，但现有的技术要么是能源密集型的，要么在保留海藻组织中的关键化合物方面表现不佳。该项目将测试针对这一困境提出的解决方案，以及污染和应变发展。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to improve the growth and processing parameters of a methane-reducing seaweed feed additive for ruminant livestock (i.e,. cattle). Globally, livestock methane emissions contribute up to 10% of total global greenhouse gas emissions. Recent feed trials have determined that a special red tropical seaweed can help reduce the amount of methane produced by ruminants by over 98%. The proposed project will advance this as a feed additive at scale by exploring three novel solutions for natural lighting optimization in land-based cultivation systems, profiling and integrating aquaculture wastewater (AWW) as a circular nutrient stream, and deploying an alternative processing method to the energy-intensive industry standard. These growth processes can likely be applied to algae production for other uses, such as food, while drying innovations are expected to be broadly applicable in tropical climates.The proposed SBIR Phase I project will build on work to grow Hawaiian Asparagopsis taxiformis in land-based systems and optimize for both yield and concentration of desired metabolites. Diurnal changes in solar position and irradiance, along with occlusion caused by algae self-shading, result in photosynthetic inefficiencies. AWW contains large amounts of waste nitrogen and phosphorus; only 20-30% of nitrogen from the fish feed is retained in fish biomass. The integration of AWW will recover some of these nutrients and avoid downstream consequences of pollution, such as eutrophication. While drying material is important for the production of a shelf-stable product, existing technologies are either energy-intensive or perform poorly at retaining critical compounds in seaweed tissue. The project will test proposed solutions to this quandary, as well as contamination and strain development.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.