SBIR Phase II: Production of Bio-adhesive from Animal Waste

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）二期项目将开发一种技术，将猪粪转化为石油基粘合剂的可持续替代品，并首次在沥青市场上获得机会。该项目建立在第一阶段成功的基础上，并获得了先前的创新队奖。这项技术的主要社会经济影响将在农村地区产生，因为它将使养猪户减轻粪便管理的负担，并创造新的收入来源。该项目还为开发低成本、耐用和环保的建筑粘合剂提供了一种新方法，降低了粪肥管理和泻湖维护的相关成本，创造了新的制造和工程岗位，并减少了我们对石油资源的依赖。目前处理粪便的做法将碳释放到大气中，要么来自粪便储存，要么来自粪便的厌氧消化。相比之下，拟议的技术将碳隔离在生物粘合剂中，同时将营养物质传递给废水、生物炭和中水，然后将其用作肥料。第一阶段的研究结果表明，与许多石油基粘合剂相比，生物粘合剂更耐用，成本更低（0.50美元/加仑，而之前的价格为2.00美元/加仑），而且更环保（挥发性有机化合物含量更低）。本研究的核心技术是利用热化学液化将猪粪转化为生物油，然后将生物油聚合生产生物粘合剂。这项技术最终将使美国每年产生的60亿加仑猪粪能够提供大约8800万桶生物粘合剂。作为第一阶段努力的结果，完成了加热速率对生物粘合剂产量和质量影响的研究；这反过来又有助于确保转换过程成功进行，从而解决了扩大规模的主要挑战之一。结果数据被用作设计中试生物反应器的输入，包括中央加热器和热交换器。在设计阶段之后，该团队开始制造和组装这个生物反应器，并进行了多次试验。在第二期项目中，在这些成功试验的基础上，我们将完成生物反应器的故障排除，同时完成油分离和聚合塔以及采样阀的设计和建造。这些项目将允许在本项目结束时建立一个完全实现的试验工厂。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop a technology to transform swine manure into sustainable alternatives for petroleum-based adhesives, with a first opportunity in the asphalt market. This project builds on a successful Phase I effort as well as a prior Innovation Corps award. The major socio-economic impact of the technology will be in rural areas, as it will allow pig farmers to alleviate the burden of manure management and create a new revenue stream. This project also offers a novel approach to develop low-cost, durable, and eco-friendly construction adhesives, reduce the cost associated with manure management and lagoon maintenance, create new manufacturing and engineering jobs, and reduce our dependence on petroleum resources. Current practices for handling manure release carbon to the atmosphere, either from manure storage or anaerobic digestion of manure. In contrast, the proposed technology sequesters carbon in bio-adhesives, while passing nutrients to the effluents, bio-char, and grey water, which can then be used as fertilizer. The Phase I research results have shown that bio-adhesive is more durable, lower in cost ($0.50/gallon, as compared with $2.00/gallon) and more eco-friendly (lower volatile organic compound levels) than many petroleum-based adhesives. The core technology to be developed further in this effort uses thermochemical liquefaction to convert swine manure to bio-oil, followed by the polymerization of bio-oil to produce bio-adhesives. This technology will eventually enable use of the six billion gallons of swine manure that are generated annually in the U.S. to supply about 88 million barrels of bio-adhesive. As a result of the Phase I effort, a study of the effects of heating rate on the yield and quality of bio-adhesive was completed; this in turn, helped ensure that the conversion process takes place successfully, thereby addressing one of the main scale-up challenges. The resulting data were used as an input for the design of a pilot bio-reactor, including central heaters and a heat exchanger. After the design phase, the team began the fabrication and assembly of this bio-reactor, and followed up with multiple trials. In the Phase II project, building on these successful trials, we will complete the troubleshooting of the bio-reactor while finalizing the design and construction of the oil separation and polymerization column, and sampling valves. These items will permit a fully-realized pilot plant by the end of this project.