NSF grant underwrites CO2 recycling research

 
 
PULLMAN – The National Science Foundation has awarded GoNano Technologies, Inc., a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase I grant to continue work in carbon dioxide recycling. GoNano is Moscow-based company with strong ties to WSU’S College of Engineering and Architecture.
 


Norton

Grant Norton, CEA associate dean of research and graduate programs, is one of the original researchers on the nanomaterials that make it possible to turn carbon dioxide waste into necessary industrial materials such as formaldehyde and methanol.

 
The $147,095 grant will help GoNano to continue the research and marketing of its Carbon Capture & Recycling™ technology in the United States and China.
 
“Carbon Capture & Recycle treats carbon dioxide as a feedstock for the production of marketable chemical byproducts thereby transforming CO2 from a waste product to a commodity”, said Tim Kinkeade, CEO of GoNano Technologies. “This scalable, cost effective approach offers greenhouse gas emitters the opportunity to capitalize on their emissions through recycling of CO2 into valuable feedstock chemicals.”
 
Norton and fellow researcher David McIlroy, a physics professor from the University of Idaho, created Nanosprings™ in their university laboratories. Nanosprings™ have a greater surface area than other nanofibers and can be used with much higher efficiency in pollution control and catalysis, among other applications.
 
Pollution control research is the focus of this NSF grant. The carbon recycling system has several advantages over carbon sequestration technologies including lower cost, production of sellable products and lower health risk.
 
After completion of this grant work, GoNano will be eligible for SBIR Phase II and III grants to further research Nanosprings™ applications to pollution control.