PureVision Technology Receives NSF Award
July 1, 2003Fort Lupton, CO: PureVision Technology, Inc. announced a grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to evaluate a new method of producing clean fiber from biomass and waste materials. The new approach being pursued by PureVision seeks to reduce the cost of converting biomass such as wheat straw into usable pulp and paper products. The 6-month project, titled “Two-stage Enzymatic Hydrolysis and Bioconversion of Pretreated Biomass for Production of Fuel Ethanol and Industrial Chemicals” is being directed by Dr. Dick Wingerson, PureVision’s chief scientist.
The NSF award to PureVision in the amount of $99,600 is funded through the NSF Small Business Innovative Research program (SBIR). The National Science Foundation promotes and advances scientific progress in the United States through the SBIR program by competitively awarding grants and cooperative agreements for research and education in the sciences, mathematics, and engineering. (www.nsf.gov).
The PureVision NSF-funded project is being undertaken at the Western Research Institute (WRI) Bioprocessing Laboratory in Laramie, Wyoming. WRI is a technology development center serving private clients, industry, and government with expertise in energy, environment, and highway materials. WRI is a subcontractor on the NSF project and is working with PureVision in several different programs to advance PureVision’s biomass recovery technology. (www.westernresearch.org)
The new PureVision biomass recovery invention separates the basic parts of biomass from each other in a patented fractionation process analogous to refining petroleum to make hydrocarbon derivatives. Instead of refining oil, the PureVision process refines biomass (for example wood, agricultural and paper wastes) into fuel, fibers, power and sugars. The sugars are raw materials that can be used for making many industrial products, such as ethanol, bio-plastics and other chemicals.
This NSF-funded project addresses two major economic constraints of developing commercial biorefineries – the cost of enzymes and waste disposal. Benefits of commercial success of the proposed process include economic utilization of waste streams, minimal environmental impacts, opportunities for production of energy crops from marginal lands, energy independence, rural economic development, and enhanced national security. PureVision Technology, Inc. is a private company based in Ft. Lupton, Colorado. During the last ten years PureVision has been developing waste recovery processes that use enzymes to convert the biomass into useful resources. For more information about PureVision Technology, Inc. you can visit their website at www.purevisiontechnology.com.