Convergence Accelerator Bio-Inspired Design Innovations: SequestStar: capturing carbon and reusing waste streams

About This Grant

The SequestStar vision is to develop an economically viable biomanufacturing process that captures carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The SequestStar process uses specialized microalgae to strip carbon dioxide from the air and calcium from brine (concentrated salt water) to form calcium carbonate. Precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) is an economically valuable product used in multiple industries including pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, paper, plastics, and building materials. SequestStar will support these industries by providing alternative sources for PCC. In addition, the SequestStar microalgae create compounds that are valuable for human health, enhancing the economic viability of the process and public well-being. This project also will contribute to national water security by using waste brine produced by desalination drinking water plants – transforming the waste streams of these plants into a source of economically valuable products. Using SequestStar PCC in concrete for coral and oyster habitat restoration could provide new materials needed to help counteract ecosystem degradation and species extinction. This Convergence Accelerator program will significantly advance the SequestStar technology down the path toward commercialization. The SequestStar process is inspired by whiting events in lakes during which precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) forms when the pH of the water rises in response to microalgal growth. By mimicking the geochemistry of whiting events using industrial bioreactors and brine from desalination plants, SequestStar will create PCC and microalgal products that support human health. Using solar energy to drive the process, the SequestStar technology will be designed so that these products are economically viable. As part of this effort, the SequestStar team will create an Input-to-Product pilot system, test industrial scale components, simultaneously optimize microalgal bioproducts and PCC production, conduct market research, and techno-economic analyses, and develop a Front-End Engineering Design of an industrial-scale facility. Advances in fundamental knowledge and innovations will occur related to photosynthetic carbon assimilation and geochemistry within high-pH fluids and control of calcium carbonate precipitation using brine. Notably, the integration of life cycle analysis concurrent with design of the biomanufacturing process will enable design decisions, providing a model for development of new biomanufacturing processes. 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.