Pancopia Received Two of the 259 Small Business Innovation Research Grants Given to Support the Development of a Low-Cost Livestock Water Recycling System
U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm announced that Pancopia, Inc. will receive a total of $400,000 from two of the 259 grants given by the Department of Energy for research to develop new water purification systems for aquaculture and livestock management. One of Pancopia’s new Phase I SBIR grants will strengthen fresh water supplies for farms through developing a wastewater recycling system for livestock agriculture.
Concentrated Animal Feed Operations (CAFOs) consume large quantities of increasingly limited freshwater to produce high-quality meat at a low cost for American consumers. However, freshwater sources are becoming more restrained due to climate change and aquifer depletion. Pancopia will be awarded a $200,000 grant to develop a water purification system that will reliably and economically recycle livestock wastewater into drinking water suitable for pigs. The development of a water purification and reuse system will preserve key water resources and avoid aquifer depletion, reduce air and water pollution, and allow farms to have a stable and reliable fresh water source for their herds—all through recovering the most important resource in wastewater: the water itself.
Company founder and CEO Bill Cumbie observed, “This grant will permit Pancopia to develop reliable, robust, and economical water purification systems for diverse areas of agriculture and leverage our past investments in research for NASA, USDA, and DOE to focus on optimizing water reuse to develop complete, environmentally friendly recycling systems benefiting the pigs, the people, and the planet.”
Hampton, Virginia Mayor Donnie Tuck noted that the city is proud to have nurtured Pancopia as it has grown over the years and is excited about the world changing technologies that may be introduced in the coming years as Hampton continues to support its businesses.
“Supporting small businesses will ensure we are tapping into all of America’s talent to develop clean energy technologies that will help us tackle the climate crisis,” said Steve Binkley, Acting Director of the DOE’s Office of Science. “DOE’s investments will enable these economic engines to optimize and commercialize their breakthroughs, while developing the next generation of science leaders and ensuring U.S. scientific and economic competitiveness that will benefit all Americans.”
Pancopia, Inc. is an environmental technology company developing economically beneficial water purification systems that simultaneously improve the environment. The company is pioneering biological water recovery for space-based application for NASA and retrofitting these technologies for commercialization within the municipal and agricultural sectors. Pancopia is headquartered in Hampton, Virginia and is part of a growing high tech environmental industry centered in this area.
More information about all the projects announced by DOE today is available at the following link:
https://science.osti.gov/sbir
Rachel Willinger
Pancopia, INC.
757-325-6803
