Farm to Flame Wins Competitive $100,000 EPA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Grant – The Tech Garden

Farm to Flame Energy recently won a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I EPA Grant for $100,000 to help commercialize its fuel processor which provides scalable, end-to-end electricity generation systems for underserved communities.  These grants are highly selective, with only one or two awarded per state per cycle. ​

​Farm to Flame Energy is part of NYSERDA’s Clean Tech Center at The Tech Garden and has been a member since 2018. The start-up was part of Syracuse University’s Blackstone LaunchPad, where the team competed in numerous campus events such as the Impact Prize and won the campus Hult Prize competition, advancing to the Hult Prize global regionals. 

As the global power generation market continues to grow, hundreds of millions of people are still facing electricity supply deficits.  Farm to Flame Energy created a sustainable solution that addresses both resource management and the gap of accessible and affordable renewable baseload capacity.  Farm to Flame Energy offers a novel combustion that enables biomass from construction, food processing and agricultural waste streams to be transformed to extremely affordable electricity at record low-emissions.  Farm to Flame briquettes burn cleaner than wood, charcoal and wood pellets, and are capable of providing an alternative to the 2.5 billion people that rely on solid biomass to cook their meals.

The SBIR funding will help with developing new applications that will push the state-of-the art in the biomass combustion field using machine learning, neural network algorithms, LIDAR sensors and other technical advancements. The company has already built a 28W lab-scale generator and is now pursuing a path to market working with small businesses, farms, local governments and educational institutions that want to offset their energy expenditures and create energy independence.  

The company established a partnership to deploy its generator through the Syracuse Center of Excellence and secured a long-term generating agreement with the University of Calabar, Nigeria.

As it continues along its path to commercialization, Farm to Flame briquettes will be tested on farms and then distributed through retailers and e-commerce channels.

EPA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program provides grants to help develop and commercialize novel technologies that support EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment. EPA is one of 11 federal agencies that participate in the SBIR Program established by the Small Business Innovation Development Act of 1982. EPA issues annual solicitations for Phase I and Phase II research proposals from science and technology-based firms. Phase II contracts are limited to small businesses that have successfully completed their Phase I projects.

To learn more about Farm to Flame visit, farmtoflameenergy.com/