In early August, the National Science Foundation accepted the preliminary proposal for a “New England Circular Bio-Economy Engine” for possible funding under its Regional Innovation Engine grant program. NEBRA has been working with NEIWPCC, the New England state land grant universities, and other stakeholder to develop a proposal that will win this NSF grant designed to “catalyze and foster innovation ecosystems across the United States”. The Regional Innovation Engine grant program is unique in its approach and provides significant, long-term funding for these regional innovation engines – 10 years and up to $160 million. The goal is that with this funding and other investments from across the region, the Engine will develop into a self-sustaining entity.
A biosolids innovation hub is sorely needed in the Northeast. NEIWPCC’s proposal presents elements inclusive of all of its 7 member states in the Northeast. These activities in each state are mainly associated with the land-grant research institutions working on various aspects of organic waste management problems and developing novel solutions, decentralized for communities of all sizes and circumstances. The project will encourage the reuse of organic materials and especially capturing and utilizing more biogas. The project doesn’t just focus on biosolids but also food wastes and other residuals — as well as the recycling challenges, offsetting energy usage, and lowering greenhouse gas emissions.
The New England Circular Bio-Economy Engine builds on NEIWPCC’s Wastewater Residuals BioHub [Wastewater Residuals BioHub • NEIWPCC] which has already brought together a broad stakeholder group to tackle PFAS in wastewater residuals. NEIWPCC has brought together more than 50 partners and stakeholders for this proposal – with more to come – to address the regional crisis in biosolids management. Many of the partners are NEBRA Members. The Greater Augusta Utility District in Maine, for example, is offering up its currently unused water treatment facility in Winthrop as a place to kick-start the technology development and testing. Other NEBRA members listed in the proposal include Brown & Caldwell (and its Research Foundation), CDM Smith, Stantec, Weston & Sampson, and Wright-Pierce from the engineering consulting community. Industry representation includes Casella, Resource Management, Inc., and Waste Management along with Heartland Water Technology.
Community engagement will be key to ensure sustainable and acceptable solutions with long-term benefits. Workforce development is also a huge part of the Bio-Economy proposal. For example, the Northeast will need more people skilled in constructing and operating anaerobic digesters to take full advantage of biogas resources. The proposal includes goals in this area, including “career entry pathways for 200 youth and under-utilized job seekers in the region of service” and retraining 100 mid- and late-career workforce members to work in the new bio-economy jobs.
Changing the Paradigm
NEIWPCC’s visionary proposal to address the biosolids crisis in the Northeast could re-define how communities generate and manage biosolids through a circular economy approach. The Bio-Economy Engine faces several major challenges including mitigating emerging contaminants for recycling of biosolids. Fast-tracking full-scale technologies for resource and energy capture from wastewater sludges also has its challenges for the clean water sector. But the promise is resilient biosolids programs with WRRFs at the center of the circular water economy!
NEIWPCC expects to hear in mid-October if the project is selected to submit a full proposal. There will be a site visit as part of the review process. If successful, the project will receive an initial $15 million to spend in the first two years. If the project is achieving its goals after the two years, it will get another 8 years and over $100 million more to invest in the regional economy for biosolids and residuals management.
Dr. Christina Stringer, NEIWPCC’s Director of Wastewater and Onsite Programs is the project lead, serving as Principal Investigator (PI). Jennifer Lichtensteiger, an environmental engineer who manages the Residuals Workgroup for NEIWPCC, will be a co-PI along with NEBRA’s Executive Director Janine Burke-Wells. Burke-Wells is also a NEIWPCC commissioner, representing the state of Rhode Island.
According to Burke-Wells, signing on to this project was almost a no-brainer but there was a lot of discussion with NEBRA Board leadership before she signed the letter of collaboration with NEIWPCC. She really likes the decentralized organizational concept as it allows state universities with different interests, expertise and resources to work simultaneously on different aspects of the problem. As an example, she suggested the University of Connecticut might become the thermal technologies hub since almost all of Connecticut’s biosolids are incinerated. Burke-Wells also commented that “The University of Vermont has developed a lot of expertise on microplastics and food waste recycling. Maybe UVM focuses on the food waste recycling?” She thinks it makes a lot of sense to have a concentration of efforts in Maine, where solutions are desperately needed, and the University of Maine has invested heavily in analyzing and studying PFAS in the environment.
Lichtensteiger will serve as CEO of the Bio-Economy Engine, a requirement of the Regional Innovation Engine grant program. She is very excited about this project. She told NEBRAMail “Our ongoing efforts to develop the New England Circular Bio-Economy Engine are worth it because the concept has such widespread support. The wastewater community's swift and positive responses to our partnership request make us confident of its successful funding through NSF or another entity.”