Disadvantaged Community Bioenergy Feedstock Consortium in Urban Areas

Problem: Urban communities, outside of institutions of higher education located in urban centers, generally are not participating in the bioenergy sector especially as it relates to producing plant-based feedstock. They are generally plagued with overgrown vegetation and dilapidation, and they lack clear access to advances in technology as it relates to bioenergy cultivation. Phase I: Re-N-Vision, LLC will lead this consortium of stakeholders in underserved communities, piloting the project in an urban destitute municipality surrounding the question of grower adoption via a feasibility study. The project will run test samples of the feedstock working collaboratively with our technological partners to ascertain which produces the highest yield with most efficiency. The project has received support from local officials to allocate adequate land for the pilot project. In Phase II, the team will use the technical data surrounding feedstock selection to determine if the path forward is a marketable bioproduct or more research. Also, we will use data points to determine what growers will need to be successful, creating a replicable model for other similar disadvantaged communities in urban areas. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: With the emergence of new hemp growers due to lifted constraints and new regulations, there is an opportunity to create a waste recovery service and logistics model for disadvantaged community members who do not wish to grow feedstock but rather recover it. Hemp growers have kilotons of discarded hemp waste which can be acquired by community members at little to no cost as a removal service. Once the most efficient technology is identified from the Phase I project, the company plans to utilize hundreds of tons of hemp waste and other feedstock to create various bioproducts.