SBIR-STTR Award

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to provide a nearshore (just offshore of inhabited coastal land, in shallow water) solution to reduce coastal flooding. The proposed project addresses a need to lessen heavy flood protection solutions based on carbon-intensive concrete in the form of seawalls and other barriers. This project will prototype an interconnected network of floating growth mats, made to seed marsh grass above the water and seaweed below. The heavy biomass of these mats and their network properties as a large interconnected group provides wave and storm surge reduction. A proposed turnkey kit offers a low-cost system, readily deployable and expandable over time. Additionally, as a floating park-like marine landscape, it has many co-benefits to the surrounding communities. As plant-based infrastructure, it serves as a site for native marsh grasses and local seaweeds to populate, providing new habitats and improving water quality. This SBIR Phase I project is a natural coastal resilience technology designed to be pre-fabricated, modular, and easy to implement for a variety of coastal environments and communities. The technology consists of robust vegetated mats linked in a network and deployed in the nearshore. The mats are colonized by local varieties of semi-aquatic marsh flora above the water line, and aquatic seaweeds below. Research objectives to validate this approach include comparing mat network performance in a range of flow conditions, including extreme waves, to inform mat design. A second research thrust will measure biomass accumulation and ecological performance through in situ deployments of mat structures.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.

The broader impact of this SBIR Phase II project is to help manage environmental change in coastal cities. Currently, a gap exists in the coastal infrastructure community for an effective solution that supports ecological health and community-based co-benefits over traditional gray infrastructure, such as seawalls, berms, or structured fill. This project addresses that gap through a novel full-scale experimental implementation of a reliable and durable network of floating biomass-based modules for coastal protection. The proposed project develops a dynamic, detail-oriented scientific approach and technical modeling. This project will demonstrate how an interconnected, anchored network of vegetated biomass modules can dampen wave energy, absorb water pollutants, and create an engaging community space for coastal cities.The technical innovations of the proposed SBIR Phase II project are: (A) a new material engineering approach for seaworthy floating modules based on biomass and living plants, anchored in a hexagonal array and interconnected; (B) a full numerical predictive modeling suite to simulate biogeochemical effects, fluid dynamic network effects, and hydrodynamic effects of large such networks of modules; and (C) a fully functional prototype network to study physical behavior and effects. This project consists of five separate experimental objectives: (1) extensive unit prototyping, redesign and monitoring to assess manufacturer material and biological behavior over time, (2) ecological monitoring of individual unit and network impacts leading to the development of a predictive biogeochemical model, (3) translation of physical wave tank lab results into a predictive coastal environment simulation model, (4) hydrodynamic analysis of a full-scale experimental network prototype, and (5) development of technical methods for production and deployment at scale.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.