SBIR Phase I: Using Metal-Organic Framework Materials to Increase Sustainability of Indoor Farming

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the ability to sustainably produce more food with fewer water and energy resources. To feed nine billion people on this planet by 2050 we need to develop new systems of agriculture. Indoor agriculture has the potential to transform the way we grow and source our food, enabling locally-sourced crops at higher yields. Food crops can be grown sustainably year-round near all major urban centers if the energy and water consumption of greenhouses could be reduced. This research will lead to the creation of a suite of water management products and services for indoor farming applications thereby making indoor agriculture environmentally sustainable and economically viable. This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will commercialize a novel metal organic framework (MOF) material that enables a new class of compact, energy-efficient cooling and dehumidification systems for greenhouses. Recent discoveries at MIT have revealed a novel MOF material with unprecedented water adsorption capacity. Moreover, the MOF material may be readily synthesized from low-cost, bulk commodity chemicals. A dehumidifier operating with this material can harvest waste heat to provide optimal temperature and humidity conditions for controlled environment agriculture. To translate the MOF material from research lab into large scale production, the material must demonstrate sufficient durability under cycling conditions, be designed to afford low cost processing and be integrated into a cost-efficient climate control system that takes advantage of its unique properties. The goal of the proposed R&D is to accelerate durability testing, design a process chemistry to enable low-cost manufacturing and develop system-level models to analyze lifecycle performance and cost sensitivity in an indoor farming application. 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.