SBIR-STTR Award

Per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS) are a group of >5,000 chemicals used across wide ranging applications from water-repellent surfaces to Aqueous Film-Forming Foams (AFFF). These “forever chemicals” are known to cause critical health conditions and are not degraded by normal hazardous waste treatment methods. The Air Force has spent $546M on PFAS actions to date and is believed to have 2 million gallons of decommissioned C8 PFAS-containing AFFF awaiting proper disposal. Currently used incineration methods are halting around the US due to concerns of ineffectiveness. AxNano LLC has developed RemRx™ ZVI, a patent-pending zero valent iron/nickel (FeNi)-carbon composite engineered to trap and degrade environmental contaminants through effective reductive chemistry. Purdue University has demonstrated FeNi-carbon composites promising efficacy for breaking down a wide range of PFAS compounds into inert byproducts. ?The objectives of this Phase I STTR collaboration between AxNano and Purdue are 1) test preliminary value proposition canvas and confirm product-market fit for specific defense and non-defense stakeholders; 2) test RemRx™ ZVI against a military grade AFFF; and 3) engage end user(s) identified in Obj 1 within Air Force as well as non-defense markets for teaming on pilot field testing in a Phase II p

Per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS) are a group of >5,000 chemicals used across wide ranging applications from water-repellent surfaces to Aqueous Film-Forming Foams (AFFF). These “forever chemicals” are known to cause critical health conditions and are not degraded by normal hazardous waste treatment methods. The Air Force has spent $546M on PFAS actions to date and has an indetermined, but extremely large volume of PFAS-contaminated water that will require proper disposal. Currently used incineration methods are halting around the US due to concerns of ineffectiveness, and landfilling is expected to soon be banned. AxNano LLC has developed RemRx™ ZVI, a patent-pending zero valent iron/nickel (FeNi)-carbon composite engineered to trap and degrade environmental contaminants through effective reductive chemistry. The main objective of this Phase II SBIR is to pilot test a RemRx™ ZVI-enabled treatment train unit to degrade PFAS in a retention pond at Tyndall AFB. Laboratory tests will inform the unit build and design, and we will test the unit’s ability to degrade PFAS constituents in brine obtained from a run-off retention pond at the firefighting training facility. The final objective of Phase II is to design a full-scale treatment unit and identify partners, mechanisms, and timing for full-scale demonstration in Phase III. Additionally, this SBIR collaboration is led by two female inventors and principal investigators, meeting the SBIR/STTR funding agency initiatives to engage diverse entre