SBIR Phase I: Bioreactors for Upcycling Pyrolyzed Polystyrene Waste into Organic Fertilizer

SBIR 第一阶段：将热解聚苯乙烯废物升级为有机肥料的生物反应器

• 批准号: 2303842
• 负责人: Samuel Baker
• 金额: $ 27.47万
• 依托单位: PRAG LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-01 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2303842&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Bioreactors; Upcycling; Pyrolyzed

The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to enable the recycling of common polystyrene foam waste into soil amendments: creating a valuable agricultural product out of a pernicious and ubiquitous waste. Annually, millions of pounds of polystyrene waste fill landfills, blot roadsides, or pollute waterways – making up 80% of all ocean plastic waste. Taking centuries to decompose, when finally broken down polystyrene may have terrible impacts on health. This project seeks to combine proven technologies with newly discovered abilities in microorganisms to digest polystyrene, to demonstrate a means by which polystyrene can be reconstituted into nutrient-rich material useful in agriculture. Because of the vast supply of polystyrene waste and the great commercial need to dispose of it, this project taps into a commercial potential not only to provide waste disposal services to a much underserved market but can do so while simultaneously producing a valuable agricultural good. This project supports the NSF’s mission by advancing the science of bioremediation, advancing the health and welfare of the nation by removing a harmful waste product from the environment, and supporting national prosperity by providing a much-needed service to a large industry. This project seeks to use a unique combination of technologies to demonstrate that polystyrene foam waste can be processed and bioremediated rapidly into a soil amending “castings” ready for use in gardening, farming, or landscaping. The project's research and development effort lies in the complex process of converting polystyrene from an unprocessed waste into both bioplastics and organic acids by way of thermal and biological methods, before further amelioration by decomposer organisms and the formation of a usable agricultural product. Bioreactors featuring numerous strains and species of microbes never-before deployed for this purpose will be used in tandem with macro-organisms whose capabilities for this application are likewise mostly or entirely unstudied. This research will uncover the specific abilities of numerous species to digest polystyrene waste at multiple scales and will evaluate several potential pathways through which the resulting digestate could be further processed. Large sample sizes, stepwise variances in conditions, and permutations of species’ combinations will be used to ensure statistical veracity. These methods, coupled with the use of cutting-edge analytical equipment, will ensure a high precision in results.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.

这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）I阶段项目的更广泛/商业影响是将常见的聚苯乙烯泡沫废物回收为土壤修正案：从一种有害和普遍存在的废物中创建有价值的农产品。每年，数百万磅的聚苯乙烯废物充满了垃圾填埋场，印迹路边或各种水道 - 占所有海洋塑料废物的80％。花几个世纪的时间分解，最终分解的聚苯乙烯可能对健康产生可怕的影响。该项目旨在将证明技术与微生物中新发现的能力相结合以消化聚苯乙烯，以证明可以将聚苯乙烯重新生成的一种手段，可将多苯乙烯重组为有用的营养丰富的材料。由于聚苯乙烯废物的大量供应以及对其处置的巨大商业需求，该项目不仅涉及商业潜力，不仅是为服务不足的市场提供废物处理服务，而且可以同时产生有价值的农业商品。该项目通过推进生物修复科学，通过从环境中消除有害的废物产品来推动国家的健康和福利来支持NSF的使命，并通过为大型行业提供急需的服务来支持国家繁荣。该项目旨在利用独特的技术组合来证明可以对聚苯乙烯泡沫废物进行处理，并迅速将其生物分配到土壤修饰的“铸件”中，准备在园艺，耕种或园林绿化中使用。该项目的研发工作在于通过热和生物学方法将聚苯乙烯从未经处理的废物转化为生物塑料和有机酸的复杂过程，然后再通过分解剂生物体进一步改善，并形成了可用的农产品。为此目的而部署的生物反应器将与从未有过的微生物菌株和物种物种进行，将与宏观动物相结合，这些生物的能力同样是最多或完全未研究的。这项研究将揭示许多物种在多个尺度上消化聚苯乙烯废物的特定能力，并评估几种潜在的途径，可以进一步处理所得消化的途径。大型样本量，条件下的逐步方差以及物种组合的排列将用于确保统计准确性。这些方法，再加上最先进的分析设备，将确保结果的高度精度。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估标准来评估的支持。