柑橘直播

Dan Spracklin, founder and CEO of SoMax Bioenergy

Dan Spracklin, founder and CEO of , began working with 柑橘直播 University鈥檚 Sustainable Engineering program in 2014 as a member of the RISE Forum. RISE鈥� Resilient Innovation through Sustainable Engineering鈥攊s a 柑橘直播 Sustainable Engineering leadership consortium dedicated to advancing the field of corporate sustainability through the discipline of engineering. Through the program, Spracklin sponsored several Sustainable Engineering master鈥檚 thesis graduate students. With primary faculty advising from Dr. Ross Lee, professor of practice, Sustainable Engineering, and co-advising from several other faculty members from Chemical and Civil and Environmental Engineering as well as Biology, this worked help his company develop an elemental recycling platform. Its purpose is to produce hydro-char鈥攃lean coal that can be combusted with zero net carbon emissions鈥攁s well as nutrient rich liquid fertilizer from manure and other waste materials.

Given the earth鈥檚 nearly limitless supply of biomass materials (i.e., food waste, biosolids and agricultural waste), there is vast potential for this new platform. Each year, nearly three billion tons of organic matter are generated in urban environments in the US alone鈥�85% of which typically ends up in landfills, wasting valuable resources. Through this platform of technologies, SoMax takes biological material and converts it into useful forms based on its elemental composition. From there, Spracklin says, 鈥淲e鈥檙e intending to separate them and repurpose those elements.鈥� Repurposing involves replenishing soils by returning nutrients to America鈥檚 farmlands. Other potential uses include developing renewable energy and even providing clean water.

SoMax is one of eight competitively-selected participants in the nationwide presented by the in St. Louis, Mo.  Their mission is 鈥渁n expedited pathway to circular farm systems鈥� with a goal to help scale commercial solutions so that farmers across the world can more effectively manage waste. Throughout the yearlong competition, companies have been paired with mentors who represent a range of stakeholders with different expertise related to manure management, the dairy industry, agricultural markets, business development, marketing and environmental conservation. In early 2020, participants will pitch their solutions to investors and industry stakeholders and a judging panel will select the winner(s).

Meanwhile, Spracklin says that the company is in the design and build phase of implementing its technologies at a wastewater treatment plant in the Philadelphia area. He notes, 鈥淭his will be the first implementation of this technology in the US鈥攁ctually in the western hemisphere.鈥� Dr. Lee adds, 鈥淥ur relationship with Somax started with Dan Spracklin鈥檚 vision in 2015 that 鈥榯here must be a better way to handle waste鈥� and we are so excited to have been a part of this collaboration that is on the verge of making the first commercial hydrothermal conversion facility happen in the US.鈥�

Dan Spracklin was about SoMax Bioenergy and the Manure Challenge on KMOX-AM in St. Louis.