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From left: Ranil Wickramasinghe, co-founder, consultant; Xianghong Qian, co-founder, consultant; and Davar Sasongko, lead investigator and co-founder.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – SIEV Technologies, a catalytic membrane reactor development company founded by researchers at the University of Arkansas, has received a US $ 256,000 innovation research grant from the National Science Foundation to develop technologies to improve biofuel production.
The grant will enable SIEV to further develop its business model as well as its catalytic membrane technology. This technology takes lignocellulosic biomass or other carbohydrate-rich raw materials such as corn fiber or agricultural waste and converts them into marketable products such as biofuels and bio-based products. SIEV will initially focus on ethanol production.
The state’s small business innovation and research award program provides an incentive for small businesses to conduct research and development with the potential for commercialization. The aim is for companies to realize their technological potential and create a path to profitability through commercialization.
The US generates an estimated 386 million tons of biomass waste annually, most of which is either incinerated or landfilled, which is a potentially large amount of usable feedstock for biofuels and other uses. The company’s initial focus on ethanol production will allow manufacturing operations to convert the cellulosic corn fiber by-product they currently sell as low-value animal feed into the more lucrative cellulosic ethanol, a biofuel.
The company is based on several patents from Ranil Wickramasinghe, a respected professor of chemical engineering, and Xianghong Qian, a professor of biomedical engineering. The company is run by her former student Davar Sasongko. An underpray of $ 81,839 from the larger SBIR grant goes to Wickramasinghe and Qian to validate their catalytic membrane technology’s ability to convert corn fiber into biofuels.
While there are only about 200 ethanol production plants in the country, Wickramasinghe described it as “a bridgehead market that is the shortest route to commercialization for the company”. SIEV’s bolt-on technology allows existing on-site facilities to be adapted to convert their corn fiber by-product into cellulosic ethanol, a more profitable product. This also means that more ethanol can be produced from the plant’s existing maize raw material. There are no further transport costs or other refining facilities.
Sasongko also noted that ethanol companies using SIEV’s reactor system can not only make more money from the by-product of ethanol production, but also generate credits for the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) – part of a market-based incentive program to reduce CO2 emissions. Intensity of fuels for transportation within participating states such as California. These LCFS credits can then be sold for additional income. He also stated that SIEV “can use the ethanol industry as a stepping stone into other markets and applications that use bio-based platform chemicals”.
Qian stressed that her preferred raw materials “do not compete with food. You can recycle cellulose, food, and agricultural waste that you cannot recycle. All of that can be turned into biochemicals. ”That includes things like almond shells, rice hulls, and woody biomass.
Assuming the successful completion of Phase I, SIEV expects to have at least one workable product by the end of Phase II, which would begin in summer 2022.
Previously, the researchers were supported by both a gap and a commercialization grant from the university’s chancellor fund. The SIEV co-founders also participated in the NSF I-Corps program.
About the University of Arkansas: As a flagship institution in Arkansas, the U of A offers internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $ 2.2 billion to the Arkansas economy by providing new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activities, and training in professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation places the U of A in the top 3% of US colleges and universities with the highest research activity. US News & World Report ranks the U of A among the best public universities in the country. See how the U of A works to create a better world on the Arkansas Research News.
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