VRM Labs is seeking commercialization of a proprietary technology that allows preparation of a novel natural and biodegradable flocculant. Flocculants are substances, which destabilize colloidal suspensions and promote the clumping and settling of the suspended particles. Among the most important applications of flocculants is treatment of agricultural wastewaters, such as the wastewaters generated in livestock slaughter and processing plants, rendering plants, etc. Flocculants are also directly applied to soil to prevent erosion in agricultural and construction areas. Most of the currently used flocculants are synthetic and their application in large scale agriculturally-related processes is becoming a growing concern for consumers, public, and regulatory entities due to their lack of biodegradability and potential toxicity of accumulated contaminants. Successful development of a highly efficient biodegradable flocculant will help to address these concerns and provide an environmentally friendly way for treatment of wastewaters generated in agricultural processes. Successful development of a highly efficient biodegradable flocculant will lead to improved methods for reuse of wastewater because currently available methods rely primarily on the use of potentially harmful synthetic flocculants. Flocculants are widely used in agriculture for clarifying livestock slaughter and rendering waste liquids and in many other applications throughout agriculture, mining, and construction. The flocculants of choice by the livestock and rendering industries are often synthetic polymers, most commonly derivatives of polyacrylamide (PAM).While these synthetic flocculants are attractive due to their high effectiveness and low cost, there is growing concern about the environmental and health impacts of these substances. Consequently, much attention, both in industry and in academia, is currently paid to the development of bio-based alternatives to synthetic polymer flocculants. Dr. Garcia and co-workers, from a USDA/ARS lab, recently discovered that hemoglobin can function as a powerful biodegradable flocculant suitable for wastewater recovery. The long-term goal of this work is to develop and commercialize a cost-efficient biodegradable hemoglobin-based flocculant. During the Phase I stage we demonstrated the proof-of-concept and developed a lab-scale prototype, which was found to be an efficient flocculant with both laboratory models and real-life industrial wastewaters. We also performed market research, which resulted in favorable assessment of the feasibility of successful commercialization of this USDA-owned technology. The objective of the proposed Phase II work is the development of a scaled up process for manufacturing of our flocculant and its detailed large scale testing at industrial wastewater treatment facilities.The following Specific Aims are proposed to achieve these goals: 1) Lab-scale optimization of the manufacturing process to achieve the most cost-effective formulation; 2) Detailed small scale efficacy studies (jar testing) at several industrial settings with the emphasis on post-treatment wastewater quality; 3) Scaling up of the manufacturing process; and 4) Large-scale testing of our flocculant at rendering wastewater treatment facilities. VRM Labs team will be responsible for manufacturing of the flocculant, scaling up and testing in industrial settings and ARS team will be responsible for detailed studies of performance of our flocculant in laboratory setting.
