Slots: 2 slots for Phase 1
Deadlines
Internal Deadline: June 7th, 2024, 5pm PT
LOI: N/A
External Deadline: September 4th, 2024, 5pm ET
Award Information
Award Type: Grant
Estimated Number of Awards: 10
Anticipated Award Amount: $50,000 cash prize per winner; up to $30,000 in analysis consulting.
Who May Serve as PI: The competition is open to private entities (for-profits and nonprofits), nonfederal government entities (such as states, counties, tribes, and municipalities), academic institutions, and individuals that meet all eligibility requirements. For more information, review the official prize rules
Link to Award: https://www.americanmadechallenges.org/challenges/e-scrap
Process for Limited Submissions
PIs must submit their application as a Limited Submission through the Research Initiatives and Infrastructure (RII) Application Portal: https://rii.usc.edu/oor-portal/. Use the template provided here: RII Limited Submission Applicant Template
Materials to submit include:
- (1) Two-Page Proposal Summary (1” margins; single-spaced; standard font type, e.g. Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations. Pages that exceed the 2-page limit will be excluded from review. You must use the template linked above.
- (2) CV – (5 pages maximum)
Note: The portal requires information about the PIs in addition to department and contact information, including the 10-digit USC ID#, Gender, and Ethnicity. Please have this material prepared before beginning this application.
Purpose
E-scrap—which includes mobile phones, home appliances, medical or office equipment, and anything else powered by electricity—represents the fastest growing waste stream globally, with e-scrap generation expected to double between 2014 and 2030. Only 17.4% of e-scrap was collected and recycled globally in 2019, discarding 83% of e-waste and $57B in raw material value. However, e-scrap recovery faces numerous roadblocks, including a fragmented recycling value chain, a complex and dynamic feedstock, and a rapidly evolving end-use market. In response, E-SCRAP is challenging American entrepreneurs to revolutionize critical material recovery and reshape the future of sustainable manufacturing.
Cooler temperatures and smaller magnetics also allow thermal management and power components to be smaller, lighter, and cheaper, thereby lowering total costs while also enabling smaller footprints. However, parasitic inductance and heat dissipation issues related to conventional packaging techniques have been known to limit the performance potential of SiC modules.
E-SCRAP is not just a competition; it’s a catalyst for change. By addressing challenges in the e-scrap recycling value chain, competitor teams can each win up to $800,000 in cash prizes and $150,000 in national laboratory analysis support over the course of the three-phase competition.
The prize is open to competitors looking to:
- Build partnerships across the recycling value chain to optimize and integrate critical material separation and recovery technologies.
- Develop and demonstrate innovations along the recycling value chain to enhance the recovery of critical materials from e-scrap.
- Select at least one challenge (technical, supply chain, or related logistics hurdle) that needs further development and establish high impact opportunities (co-recovery, feedstock flexibility, information share, material benchmarking…) that will increase the domestic supply of critical materials from e-scrap.
- Create or enhance supply chains to increase material circularity (e.g., accelerating connectivity between collection, sorting, pre-treatment, processing, refining, validation, and material qualification)
Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.