2026 Funded Projects | MnDRIVE Environment

MnDRIVE Environment is excited to announce funding for four new projects in 2026. These outcomes-oriented projects – in areas including food systems, water and clean energy – are awarded through the Institute on the Environment’s Impact Goals grantmaking program.

Excerpts are based on information provided by project teams in their proposals and have been lightly adapted for length and consistency.

Circular Bioprocessing of Ethanol Carbon Dioxide and Thin Stillage for Sustainable Food Ingredient Production Using Microalgae

Domains: Food Systems, Clean Energy, Natural Capital

Ethanol production in Minnesota generates large volumes of carbon dioxide emissions and nutrient-rich thin stillage (a liquid byproduct of the ethanol distillation process) that remain underutilized, representing both an environmental burden and a missed economic opportunity.

This project aims to develop and evaluate a microalgal cultivation platform to simultaneously capture industrial carbon dioxide and upcycle thin stillage into high-value proteins, lipids and hydrocolloids. By quantifying carbon dioxide utilization efficiency, biomass productivity, and ingredient yields, this research will assess the feasibility of transforming ethanol byproducts into sustainable food ingredients. The ultimate aim is to advance Minnesota’s circular bioeconomy and climate mitigation efforts.

Principal Investigator:

Prasanth K.S. Pillai, College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, University of Minnesota

Co-Principal Investigators:

B. Pam Ismail, College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, University of Minnesota
George Annor, College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, University of Minnesota

Team:

Veluchamy Chitraichamy, College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, University of Minnesota
Luca Zullo, Agricultural Utilization Research Institute
Sue Marshall, NETZRO

Closed-Loop Thermochemical Destruction of PFAS for Water and Land Systems at Prairie Island Indian Community

Domain: Water & Land

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are long-lasting compounds with strong carbon-fluorine bonds, making them resistant to breaking down in the environment. In Minnesota, PFAS have been detected in groundwater and private wells, particularly in shallow sand and gravel aquifers influenced by historical industrial releases. For the Prairie Island Indian Community (PIIC), PFAS is not only a water-quality concern, but also a land and ecosystem issue. A recent research collaboration between the PIIC and University of Wisconsin Sea Grant partners has detected PFAS in several traditional foods, including maple syrup and walleye, with PFAS concentrations also identified in wells on PIIC Tribal lands.

This project aims to determine whether PFAS concentrated from groundwater and culturally important plant communities at PIIC can be verifiably mineralized and permanently removed without secondary contaminant redistribution. The research will test a closed-loop treatment strategy that combines PFAS concentration from water and plant materials with catalytic microwave-assisted pyrolysis and fluorine mass-balance verification. If successful, the work will provide decision-ready scientific evidence to help PIIC and other Minnesota communities evaluate remediation approaches that eliminate, rather than merely transfer, PFAS.

Principal Investigator:

Roger Ruan, Center for Biorefining and Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering Department, University of Minnesota

Team:

Nan Zhou, Center for Biorefining and Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering Department, University of Minnesota
Dean Current, Center for Integrated Natural Resource and Agricultural Management, University of Minnesota
Andi Sutton, Southeast Regional Sustainable Development Partnership, University of Minnesota Extension
Rylee Hince, Prairie Island Indian Community

Conservation Risks of Sustainable Aviation Fuel in a World of Substitutable Feedstocks, Fragmented Policy, and Rising Demand for Decarbonization Solutions to Aviation Emissions

Domain: Clean Energy

Decarbonization is a key solution for reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and lowering global temperatures; however, not every sector can decarbonize in the same way or to the same extent. The aviation industry has been seen as difficult to decarbonize since electrification poses multiple challenges, such as low energy densities, safety concerns and lagging technological advances. Despite this, bioenergy has emerged as a potential market to help the aviation industry begin to decarbonize. Aviation bioenergy, or sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), can be derived from a variety of feedstocks, making it an attractive solution, particularly for other industries (e.g. logging, agriculture) that produce otherwise unusable biowastes. Local and global SAF policies are both creating new market opportunities and putting pressure on existing markets for biomass feedstocks.

This project will develop a spatial land-use change model to evaluate policies that aim to promote SAF expansion in Minnesota while mitigating negative impacts on soil health, water quality and biodiversity. Test scenarios will be developed in conjunction with community partners and disseminated in short briefs through community partner networks, informing state government and corporate policy.

Principal Investigator:

Nathaniel Springer, Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota

Co-Principal Investigators:

Susanna Gibbons, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota
Megan Wilcots, The Nature Conservancy

Team:

Ellen Titus, The Nature Conservancy

Community Stakeholders:

Julia Silvis, Greater MSP
Colin Cureton, Forever Green

AI’s Hidden Thirst: A predictive decision-support tool for data center water circularity and governance

Domains: Decision Support, Water & Land, Environmental Justice

As generative AI expands, the demand for digital services is driving a rapid construction boom of hyperscale data centers. A hyperscale data center handling billions of daily requests can use one million to five million gallons of water daily, comparable to the total daily residential water consumption of a mid-sized city in Minnesota. This rapid expansion has created a data gap between data center developers and local municipalities: regulators and communities lack the tools to verify complex infrastructure impacts, while data center developers need to predict how dynamic AI workloads translate into physical water stress. Furthermore, attempts to save water consumption through internal recycling (circularity) can concentrate heavy metals, biocides, corrosion products, and treatment chemicals in blowdown, shifting part of the burden from water quantity to water quality.

To address the data gaps in water demand for hyperscale data centers, this project builds upon the foundational IonE Mini Grant that modeled the micro-level water consumption of graphic processing unit (GPU)-based AI workloads. Co-designed with the Freshwater Society and the UMN Morris Clifford J. Benson Center for Community Partnerships, the project extends a proof-of-concept from GPU-level modeling to a facility-level, community-driven predictive decision support dashboard. Freshwater and Benson Center will help design stakeholder metrics, community impact reports, and educational materials. The aim is to empower regulators, communities and data center operators to collaboratively optimize water circularity and mitigate cumulative chemical and thermal pollution across Minnesota’s watersheds.

Principal Investigator:

Wenkai Guan, Division of Science and Mathematics, University of Minnesota Morris

Co-Principal Investigators:

Yang (Katie) Zhao, College of Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota
Cara M. Santelli, College of Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota
Zhichao Cao, School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, Arizona State University
Tianlong Chen, Department of Computer Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Zishen Wan, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University

Team:

Michelle Stockness, Freshwater Society
Argie Manolis, Clifford J. Benson Center for Community Partnerships, University of Minnesota Morris