Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Spero Energy seeks to increase the availability and competitiveness of biobased products. One area which could benefit greatly from a biobased and biodegradable product is the agricultural chelate market. Chelates are molecules which bind micronutrients essential for plant growth, and efficiently deliver the micronutrients to the plant. The main chelates used today are ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA). In the agricultural sector, EDTA and DTPA are used to deliver essential metals such as iron, copper, manganese, and zinc to plants. Despite the widespread use of EDTA and DTPA, growing bodies of evidence suggest that use of these chelates is leading to a host of environmental problems including contamination of domestic and global water sources. Beyond the agricultural sector, these chelates are used extensively in domestic and industrial applications, further contributing to the water pollution problem.Through this project, Spero Energy, Inc. is developing chelates which are modeled after natural plant materials and designed to be biodegradable. Spero Energy will produce these biodegradable chelates in our chemistry laboratory located in Thousand Oaks, CA. Spero plans to produce chelates which can bind micronutrients, deliver the micronutrients to plants, then biodegrade quickly into non-toxic components. The chelates will be tested to measure how well they can bind the micronutrients and to ensure biodegradability using industry standard methods. After Spero has selected its highest performing and biodegradable chelate, we will work with industry experts to bring this much needed technology to mass production. Through commercialization of high performing, biodegradable chelates, Spero Energy seeks to help the agricultural community grow the foods we need without causing water pollution.
Animal Health Component
25%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
50%
Applied
25%
Developmental
25%
Goals / Objectives
With the mission of developing 'green' and sustainable processes for the conversion of abundant non-food biomass into high value chemicals, Spero Energy seeks to increase the availability and competitiveness of biobased products. One area which could benefit greatly from a biobased and biodegradable product is the agricultural chelate market. Currently, the metal chelating aminocarboxylates ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) are used extensively in industrial, domestic, and agricultural applications. In the agricultural sector, EDTA and DTPA are used to deliver soluble forms of essential metals such as iron, copper, manganese, and zinc to plants. Despite the widespread use of EDTA and DTPA, growing bodies of evidence suggest that use of these chelates is leading to a host of environmental problems including contamination of domestic and global water sources.Through this Phase I research project, Spero Energy aims to provide a foundation from which high performing, biodegradable, and cost competitive chelates will be commercialized during Phase II of the project. Spero Energy plans to develop an expanded chelate library to include a range of biodegradable chelates, and select the optimal chelate for commercialization. Experiments conducted through Phase I research will quantify the binding constants of the chelates to bind key metal micronutrients and quantify the biodegradability of the chelates. Phase II work will include toxicology testing, and further greenhouse studies to provide a complete data set for potential customers. Additionally, Phase II will be used to improve the solubility of lignin based biodegradable chelates in preparation for launch of a totally biobased renewable chelate product line.The objectives of this Phase I SBIR project are as follows:Expansion of the library of biodegradable chelates produced by Spero Energy. This objective will be accomplished using proprietary methods to produce metal chelating molecules. Successful synthesis of the new chelates will be quantified by evaluation of reaction yields and purity. The metal-ligand binding modes of the newly synthesized chelates will be evaluated through x-ray crystallography.Determine binding constants for chelates under agriculturally relevant conditions. Initial tests of chelates previously synthesized by Spero Energy, have shown promising results in their ability to bind iron and effectively deliver iron to plants in a greenhouse setting. To compare these promising new chelates directly to the commercial chelates EDTA, DTPA, and EDDHA additional binding constant testing must be completed. During this key objective, the binding constants of Spero produced chelates will be measured with the metals most commonly chelated for agricultural applications. These include Fe2+/3+, Cu2+, Zn2+, and Mn2+. Completion of this objective will answer the following technical question: (1) How do the metal binding constants of chelates synthesized by Spero Energy compare to commercially available products?Measure biodegradability of chelates. In this objective the biodegradability of the most promising chelates will be quantified by standard methods detailed in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) guideline for testing chemicals. Following completion of Key Objectives 1 and 2 the most promising chelates will have been evaluated in terms of favorability of binding constants, formation constants over a range of pH values, solubility, and cost. The most promising chelates will then be subjected to biodegradability testing. Biodegradability testing will be carried out by a 3rd party, so that the results will be considered unbiased for regulatory purposes. Completion of this objective will answer the following technical questions (1) Which of our most promising chelates meet the regulatory specifications to be labeled as biodegradable?
Project Methods
This project will be conducted beginning with a series of chemical reactions used to produce biodegradable chelates. This work will be carried out using synthetic organic chemistry techniques in the laboratory of Spero Energy. Reaction products will be characterized by NMR spectroscopy and elemental analysis. X-ray crystallography will be used to evaluate the binding modes of the chelates when bound to metals such as iron.The stability constants of newly synthesized chelates will be determined by potentiometric techniques to allow for direct comparison of their ability to bind relevant metals with industry standard chelates. Additionally, the biodegradability of synthesized chelates will be measured with standard laboratory methods such as the OECD CO2 evolution test.Chelates synthesized by Spero Energy will undergo constant evaluation throughout the course of this project. Initial evaluation will include determination of product yield and purity. Further evaluation will include determination of stability constants when key micronutrients are bound by the chelates. Determination of the stability constants will allow for direct comparison with industry standard chelates such as ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA), ethylenediaminesuccinic acid (EDDS) and iminodisuccinic acid (IDS). Biodegradability testing will also be used to evaluate Spero's hypothesis that chelates modeled after lignin moieties will be biodegradable.