NSF awards $45 million for Great Lakes wastewater reclamation
Key Highlights
- The NSF awarded $45 million to the Great Lakes RENEW initiative to reclaim wastewater.
- The goal of RENEW is to transform wastewater into new domestic resources.
The US National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $45 million to a Great Lakes innovation and economic development initiative to turn wastewater into a valuable resource.
The Great Lakes RENEW (Recovery of Energy, Nutrients, Critical Elements, and Water) initiative is a collaboration of research institutions, companies, and economic development organizations. RENEW is led by Current, a Chicago-based water innovation hub. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago are core partners.
The goal of RENEW is to transform wastewater into new domestic resources that strengthen US supply chains, support industry, reduce dependence on imported materials, and help reinvest materials, energy, and value instead of being used once and discarded.
The 3-year, $45 million award will support the initiative as it moves from its 2‑year launch phase into a broader strategy of growth and implementation, expanding its programs, partnerships, and impact across the region. There is the potential to unlock $160 million in NSF funding over 10 years by meeting specific milestones.
Great Lakes RENEW spans six states in the region, with early work focused on Illinois, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Efforts will expand to Indiana, Michigan, and Minnesota in the next phase.
The initiative was launched in 2024 with an initial $15 million award from NSF, establishing Great Lakes RENEW as an NSF Regional Innovation Engine.
Argonne is advancing membrane, biological, and electrochemical systems to recover clean water and extract critical minerals from wastewater. These technologies use differences in size, charge, chemistry, or surface interactions to pull specific components out of complex mixtures that would otherwise be lost.
Industrial wastewater contains critical materials such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and rare earth elements — ingredients essential to technologies ranging from semiconductors to military systems, industrial catalysts and everyday electronics like smartphones and laptops. Lithium, cobalt and nickel are critical components in battery technologies.
Municipal wastewater often contains nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen, which can be recovered and reused in fertilizers — turning a waste stream into a valuable agriculture resource. Wastewater also carries recoverable thermal and chemical energy that can be harnessed across industrial and municipal systems, expanding the resource base for the broader energy landscape.
In its first two years, RENEW has helped Argonne accelerate progress in advanced separations and water innovations, with technologies supported by the lab’s Materials Engineering Research Facility.