Improving Nutrition Efficiency and Sustainability in Agriculture with Biodegradable Lignin-Polymer Fertilizers

mobius pbc USDA FY23 SBIR Phase II - Project Summary March 28th 2023 Improving Nutrition Efficiency and Sustainability in Agriculture with Biodegradable Lignin-Polymer Fertilizers mobius pbc USDA Phase II - Project Summary Proposal Title: Improving Nutrition Efficiency and Sustainability in Agriculture with Biodegradable Lignin-Polymer Fertilizers P.I.: Jeffrey Beegle MS Proposing Organization: mobius pbc Proposal Topic: 8.1 - Forests and Related Resources With growing populations around the world our global food systems must grow to support a projected 9.7 billion people by 2050 increasing current food production by 70%. As if this problem wasn't hard enough growers must achieve this feat using practices that are productive in the short-term providing healthy and nutritious food and sustainable in the long-term reducing pollution and waste into the environment. One practice that has helped growers increase crop yields is fertilizer. In 2019 global fertilizer use was estimated at 215 million tons and is expected to grow by 2.5 million tons per year to accommodate increasing food production demands. One segment of this market is controlled-release fertilizers (CRF's) which combat some of the environmental challenges that traditional fertilizers face like eutrophication and greenhouse gas emissions. But there are several barriers preventing the widespread adoption of CRF's: high cost of materials complex manufacturing processes lack of standardization lack of information for growers and emerging concerns and regulations regarding microplastic pollution resulting from the various polymer materials used as coatings and binders. There is an opportunity to develop a low-cost biodegradable controlled release fertilizer platform that is easily manufacturable using high-throughput continuous processing equipment helping the agriculture industry meet its production goals and sustainability goals. Our goals for this Phase II project are to: develop formulations of biodegradable lignin-polymers for controlled release fertilizer applications demonstrate continuous production of these materials evaluate nutrient release efficiency & performance in laboratory and greenhouse trials and develop a comprehensive IP & commercialization strategy through the TABA program (Figure 1). At the end of this project we aim to have at least 1 formulation of lignin polymers with Nitrogen Phosphorus or Potassium content that show tunable release rates between 2 and 6 months demonstrating above- and below-ground plant growth plant quality and soil quality equivalent to or better than commercially available CRF's on the market today. Figure 1 - Overview of mobius Phase II Objectives and Work Plan