NSF ERC for Carbon Utilization Redesign through Biomanufacturing-Empowered Decarbonization

The CURB Engineering Research Center will transform U.S. manufacturing by curbing CO2 emissions and decreasing the human ecological footprint. CURB will advance, deploy, and scale innovative hybrid electro-biomanufacturing engineered systems to empower a new circular carbon economy wherein CO2 will serve as valuable feedstock for manufacturing a broad range of products much more efficiently than current state-of-the-art and natural systems do. CURB will create cost-effective and emissions-free biomanufacturing technologies, facilitating the next-generation bioeconomy and empowering industrial decarbonization. The emerging decarbonization and bioeconomy industries have grown rapidly to $4.5 and $4 trillion respectively, representing unparalleled opportunities for U.S. economic growth and millions of job opportunities. CURB uniquely converges these two sectors to turn our most daunting sustainability challenges into powerful catalysts for economic growth. Ultimately, CURB will transform U.S. manufacturing to zero- and negative emissions, valorize waste CO2 from broad industries, mitigate climate change, reduce hazardous compounds in emissions, and produce plastics that are biodegradable rather than polluting. Through partners ranging from start-ups to major corporations, CURB's technology commercialization will empower a billion-ton level carbon emission reduction and tens of billions of dollars in economic growth.