By Trisha Nail
THE KEENE SENTINEL
BRATTLEBORO, Vt. — A for-profit company in town is seeking to install and test wastewater-treatment systems that convert human waste into fertilizer after the project received a $1 million federal grant.
Brightwater Tools, which spun off from the Brattleboro research nonprofit Rich Earth Institute in 2019, developed a treatment system that separates urine flushed down toilets from wastewater from other appliances like showers, sinks and washing machines. The system then directs the urine through specialized plumbing to a compact, building-scale processor that transforms it into liquid fertilizer, according to a news release from Brightwater.
Rich Earth’s website states urine includes elements advantageous to agriculture, containing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium comparable to fertilizer.
Kim Nace, Brightwater CEO and a co-founder of the Rich Earth Institute, said development of initial project concepts started around the time the company spun off from the institute. The nonprofit had also received an earlier $240,000 grant from the National Science Foundation while working with the University of Michigan and the University at Buffalo during that time.
“[Rich Earth has] a urine-nutrient recovery project over here in the Brattleboro area and kind of a platform for learning more about how we can recycle our human waste,” Nace said. “As we looked backwards, we realized we’re actually developing technologies that facilitate collection, transport, treatment and application of urine as fertilizer, so we realized it was time to go ahead and market some of these technologies.”
The treatment system could support condominium and apartment properties, with Nace citing Brattleboro developments as an example of where Brightwater’s work could prove its potential.
“In Brattleboro they’re trying to think about how they can build some 200- and 300-unit apartment complexes, and so I’m really hoping we can get one of our systems into one of these new, larger complexes,” she said. “We really need housing and we need this new housing to be the best we can do in terms of technology for energy and nutrient water flows.”
Brightwater has yet to determine where it will test its wastewater-to-fertilizer systems once it can fund the trials. And while Nace has thought of staying “close to home,” she said there’s the possibility of going international.
“We do have a potential customer in the Netherlands and a potential customer in the Seattle area, and those are not close to home, but these are innovators,” she said.
The company applied for the second phase of the NSF’s Small Business Innovation Research program in September 2021, according to Nace. Rich Earth received the earlier $240,000 grant in the first phase of the program in 2019.
After submitting a 100-page application and later going through three reviews, Nace said Brightwater was selected for the grant among other urine-recovery projects including those in California, Illinois and Arizona. Now, the company is seeking external investors to finance the trials of the system.
“The grant fully supports the development of the four components of the technology, but that’s all, and we need a lot more funding,” Nace said. “I’d like to get another million dollars, because the [NSF] will match that to $500,000.”
The Rich Earth Institute was founded in 2012 by Nace and Abraham Noe-Hays, both Brattleboro natives. Nace said they considered their hometown a desirable place to ground their research for its supportive local selectboard and regional planners.
“It’s interesting to know that this is where we’re from and [our work] has just evolved and gotten really big,” Nace said.
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