MIPS Project Detail:
Company
Company Description:
PaverGuide has developed a product called PaverGuide™, an injection-molded, recycled plastic, modular system designed to replace stone as a road base and reservoir below permeable paving. The reservoir allows for infiltration, or beneficial harvesting of storm water.
PaverGuide™ is a structural base for paving systems and exceeds H-20 loading. PaverGuide™ is installed faster and cheaper than the stone it replaces, and at 90 percent void, it provides a large rainwater reservoir and expansive infiltration surface.
MIPS Project
Enhancing Phosphorous Removal in Permeable Paving
Project #
5608
|
MIPS Round
56
|
Starting Date:
Aug 2015
MIPS Project Challenge:
The goal of this MIPS project was to investigate sub-base materials to be used with the PaverGuide product that could provide long-term phosphorus (and possibly other pollutant) removal from storm water and still allow the PaverGuide to function as intended, with superior permeable pavement runoff storage.
Project Scope:
Through this MIPS project researchers were slated to: 1.) identify candidate materials with demonstrated potential for phosphorus removal based on a review of past research; 2.) assess nutrient removal (phosphorous and nitrogen) effectiveness through laboratory-scale testing, including batch equilibrium studies and continuously loaded columns; 3.) verify that the material meets structural strength requirements for a permeable pavement sub-base through geotechnical testing including direct shear, California Bearing Ratio (CBR), and hydraulic conductivity tests; and 4.) recommend a material or material mixture for use as a PaverGuide subbase, provide guidance on the preparation and use of the material, and indicate its expected performance.
Results:
The novel media mixture developed and tested in this research has been shown to effectively remove phosphorus from urban runoff under representative laboratory simulations and to possess structural characteristics required for application as a sub-base in PaverGuide permeable pavement applications. Field testing of the material is in-progress.
A joint provisional patent application was submitted related to the technology developed through this MIPS project.
In June, 2017, PaverGuide received $150,000 in investment from the Chesapeake Bay Seed Capital Fund.
The company was also selected as a cohort for the Climate Ventures 2.0 Accelerator, through which PaverGuide will receive $25,000 in funding from the sponsor of the Accelerator, the William Penn Foundation.
PaverGuide has been admitted to the Water Environment and Reuse Foundation’s Leaders Innovation Forum for Technology program, through which the organization is currently soliciting municipal WE&RF “subscribers” to sign on for a PaverGuide pilot project. WE&RF would provide up to $200,000 for the project and make research results available to its subscribers.
Additional Mtech/UMD programs utilized:
Chesapeake Bay Seed Capital Fund
Principal Investigator:
Allen
Davis
Professor and Charles A. Irish Chair, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Project Manager:
Charles
White
Founder & CEO
Technologies:
Environmental Technology / Science
