Nutrient Recovery And Upcycling Llc — Department of Agriculture SBIR Phase II: 8.4

Nutrient Recovery And Upcycling Llc — SBIR Phase II award from Department of Agriculture.

Phase II SBIR prototype / development signal

  • Phase II is where Department of Agriculture funds deeper R&D after feasibility. Incumbents with Phase II history are serious competitors on adjacent topics.
  • Use this award as past-performance context and to map customer organizations for STRATFI/TACFI-style transition planning.
  • Obligated amount $585,819 is consistent with substantial Phase II-scale effort; compare to related awards from the same agency.
  • Topic code 8.4 links this award to a solicitation family — search the same topic stem for incumbents and recompete timing.

Informational capture context from public federal data — not legal or bid advice.

Amount
$585,819
Agency
Department of Agriculture
Program / Phase
SBIR · Phase II
Topic
8.4
NAICS
Place of performance
WI
Period
2017-09-01 → 2019-08-31

Description

Phosphorus which is a limited resource and an essential plant nutrient is commonly applied to agricultural land to promote plant growth. NRU is commercializing a technology to recover phosphorus from municipal wastewater in the form of an agriculturally valuable mineral called brushite. This technology addresses the need to recycle phosphorus from the waste stream in order to prevent technical problems at wastewater treatment plants and water pollution. The ultimate goal of our process is to produce a high-grade source of phosphorus that has been "upcycled" (i.e., has higher value at the end of the process than at the beginning), and brought to a point where it can be used in either agriculture or industry. At present, brushite is not a recognized phosphorus fertilizer, neither in the US nor globally, although it contains 18% phosphorus. Relatively little scientific literature is currently available to make a clear assessment of its value as a phosphorus source for plants. Despite the dominance of DAP, MAP, TSP and APP fertilizers in the market, we believe that brushite is a phosphorus mineral with high potential as a fertilizer.