MIT Solve

Solution Overview

Solution Name:

Seascape Restoration

One-line solution summary:

Coastal community nutrient pollution is solved with nature-based direct in-situ nutrient reduction, seagrass restoration, ecosystem connect.

Pitch your solution.

The most significant problem we are trying to solve is coastal nutrient pollution, but we refine our focus because this problem id too large, so we follow the path of maximum value added. We concentrate on restoring nutrient impaired seagrass meadows.

Criteria for our solution:

Impact
Speed
Low cost

Given our criteria we go in the direction of a process based in nature that can no longer contribute to nutrient removal or control due to eutrophication caused by significant nutrient inputs. Since a lack of dissolved oxygen is the impediment this is what we supply through artificial means.

Seagrasses are declining worldwide at an accelerating pace, now 7 percent, or 21,000 square kilometers per year. Loss due to nutrient impairment is about one third of these amounts and reflects population density. This is where we concentrate our efforts. The core of the process uses oxygen from the air and recirculated bottom water that are mixed in equipment to produce nanoscale oxygen bubbles. They are distributed to satisfy unmet demand for dissolved oxygen in the bottom water and sediment, restoring function to natural processes.

Film your elevator pitch.

What specific problem are you solving?

Seagrasses are flowering plants that provide many ecosystem services in coastal ocean waters. We are solving the problem of seagrass loss due to nutrient enrichment with a current rate of 7,000 square kilometers annually. Loss rate has accelerated to 7 percent annually.

This problem is caused by high land-based nutrient loading. Actual loss is caused by the resultant eutrophication and loss of dissolved oxygen concentration in the bottom water. Until solved losses will continue to accelerate.

For Cape Cod, 1,731 hectares were lost due to nutrients between 1995 and 2013 leaving a coverage area of 1,871 hectares (Massachusetts Estuaries Project 2006). This loss of seagrass means a loss of 140 million fish that used the meadows as their habitat. 200,000 permanent residents and 800,000 seasonal people feel this and other losses in both economic and health terms. Globally seagrasses store 1.9 Peta grams as organic carbon. The rate of carbon release due to seagrass loss is currently up to 299 Tera grams per year, affecting soon to be 10 Billion people on earth as well as many other species (Out of the Blue UN Report on Seagrasses June 2020).

What is your solution?

Our nature-based process removes nitrogen while controlling phosphorous in marine waters/sediment. Shallow water biogeochemical processes ideally operate at a saturated dissolved oxygen concentration (LaMontagne, Estuaries April 2002). Our solution enables these processes to perform despite environmental stress with dissolved oxygen sourced from the atmosphere and recirculated water mixed and delivered from a floating barge. Nanoscale oxygen bubbles are used because they dissolve quickly.

This same system can restore nutrient impaired seagrass meadows. Loss of oxygenated sediment creates forms of nitrogen and hydrogen sulfide that kill seagrass. By supplying dissolved oxygen to the bottom water through external means we restore biogeochemical processing of nutrients at near optimum rates despite an otherwise deteriorated condition. The process can supply this oxygen during the night and/or day enabling a nature-based recovery. Restoration of healthy nutrient levels is required for the recovery of nutrient impaired seagrass meadows.

We target seagrass meadows that are moderately impaired. Nitrogen reduction should take 1 to 2 years with full seagrass health in 5 to 10 years.

Healthy seagrass services (UN: Out of the Blue):

Biodiversity
Nutrient cycling
Habitat for Marine Life
Nursey for Juvenile Fish
Carbon Storage
Ocean Acidification Control
Oxygen Production
Sediment Erosion Control
50% Reduction in Pathogens

Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?

Markets are developed sequentially with each dependent on the earlier steps.

Estuary and Near Shore Coastal Nutrient Reduction and Control

Fast and low-cost methods
Solve “non-point” source problems
Water body located solutions

Features occur at coastal community scales. Local municipalities, businesses and chambers of commerce offer opportunities for observation and discussion.

Seagrass Restoration

Seagrasses inhabit shallow marine waters. The most significant benefits from seagrass restoration are (Nature March 17, 2021: Protecting the global ocean for biodiversity, food and climate):

Biodiversity
Seafood
Climate Mitigation

Our focus is on nutrient impaired seagrasses that represent about one third of global impact.

Biodiversity is a significant problem at all scales. Local communities know about the problems, but a deeper understanding is required to solve and scale. Needs are found in technical and broader publications (UN: Out of the Blue, World Seagrass Association 2020). We are a participant in Ocean Shots, a part of Ocean Decade US. Through this initiative we are part of a larger, deeper, and broader group of people with whom we will collaborate.

A healthy seagrass meadow provides habitat for 80,000 fish per hectare.

Climate mitigation through seagrass restoration protects stored carbon in the sediment from being transformed into carbon dioxide gas.

Seagrass restoration offers a lot to customers such as: Local, state, and federal government; private sector tourism, fishing, seafood supply chain, boating, ocean sourced medical products, and risk control for financial companies.

Seascape Continuity Using Seagrass

Location of seagrass in relation to other ecosystems provides services for all.

Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?

Create scalable economic opportunities for local communities, including fishing, timber, tourism, and regenerative agriculture, that are aligned with thriving and biodiverse ecosystems

Explain how the problem you are addressing, the solution you have designed, and the population you are serving align with the Challenge.

Our process technology targets an oxygen constrained natural biogeochemical process in both marine and aquatic shallow waters. Restoration removes nitrogen while controlling phosphate in the sediment.

Oxygen concentration declines due to:

Eutrophication

Decaying organic matter

Biogeochemical processes
Warmer water/less oxygen

Design is for a moveable floating platform on which the equipment is installed. Oxygen is sourced from air. Bottom water is recirculated through a nano-bubbler where it mixes with oxygen and is then distributed to the sediment through piping.

Good water quality is a necessity for coastal tourism, fishing and restoring the services of healthy seagrass ecosystems.

In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?

Milton, MA, USA

What is your solution’s stage of development?

Prototype: A venture or organization building and testing its product, service, or business model.

Explain why you selected this stage of development for your solution.

The science behind unlocking biogeochemical capacity with dissolved oxygen was established more than 20 years ago. Aeration failed, but it was a false fail. The reason for failure was the inability of aeration to produce sufficient dissolved oxygen because the bubble size was/is too large. Bubbles have a rise velocity that limits its time to dissolve in water. Nanoscale oxygen bubbles have no rise velocity. Their size produces fast dissolution enabling our method to work.

I was accepted by the National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine into the recently formed Ocean Shots program which is a part of US Ocean Decade. The intent of the program is to foster broad collaboration and to provide funding to the Ocean Shots. Through this program I expect to complete Prototype, Proof-of-Concept and Scale-up activities. Before leaving the program, Ocean Shots will receive a verification certificate for their product/service offering to facilitate fundraising.

Who is the Team Lead for your solution?

Carl Persson

More About Your Solution

If your solution has a website or an app, provide the links here:

None

If you have additional video content that explains your solution, provide a YouTube or Vimeo link here:

—

Which of the following categories best describes your solution?

A new business model or process that relies on technology to be successful

What makes your solution innovative?

The major problem is non-point source nutrient loading and ecosystem impairment. Lack of solutions leads to ecological degradation with short-term negative impacts to health and long-term risk to life. Our nature-based solution is based on biogeochemistry working in both marine and aquatic environments. The dominant natural process in shallow waters to remove nitrogen is losing efficiency and capacity because of low dissolved oxygen.

By supplying dissolved oxygen to the upper sediment, we unlock the capacity of natural biochemistry. Existing source control technologies such as wastewater treatment plants and most current alternative technologies operate indirectly (slowly). We offer:

Non-point source treatment of nutrients
Scaling ability
Speed
Low cost

The ability to reduce the concentration of nitrogen in the sediment and bottom water through an in-situ process creates the ability to restore nutrient impaired seagrass meadows. By oxygenating the sediment, we can stop seagrasses from dying and restore them without seeding provided seagrass biomass criteria are met. When the sediment is bare the same process should work, but seeding is required. This is novel process technology enabled by the recent commercialization of equipment to produce nanoscale bubbles.

Within a seascape we can select where to restore seagrass meadows. Through the principle of continuity each ecosystem will help others. Given the risks facing coral reefs due to ocean acidification and their importance in protecting people and property restoring seagrass meadows between the shore and the coral reef is an opportunity. Healthy seagrass meadows have been proven to decrease acidity by 30 percent.

Please select the technologies currently used in your solution:

Biomimicry
GIS and Geospatial Technology
Imaging and Sensor Technology
Internet of Things
Materials Science

Select the key characteristics of your target population.

Rural
Peri-Urban
Urban

In which countries do you currently operate?

United States

Which of the UN Sustainable Development Goals does your solution address?

8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
10. Reduced Inequality
11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
12. Responsible Consumption and Production
13. Climate Action
14. Life Below Water
17. Partnerships for the Goals

In which countries will you be operating within the next year?

United States

How many people does your solution currently serve? How many will it serve in one year? In five years?

We have designed a solution that is at the prototyping/proof-of-concept stage. We have been accepted into the US Ocean Shot program and am awaiting authorization and funding to proceed. Currently serving 0.

In one year, we expect to have completed the first experimental stage successfully and would begin scaling the process. We are assuming that the size of the treatment area is 0.5 hectare and is moderately impaired. We will be serving 0 people in one year.

In five years, we expect that our 0.5-hectare experiment has resulted in a healthy seagrass meadow supporting 40,000 fish as well as all of the services seagrass meadows provide. While still an experiment serving part of the community, we would serve 1,000 people.

Each year we will have scaled up our seagrass restoration pilots. We assume this occurs as follows:

2 years: 2 hectares
3 years: 6 hectares
4 years: 12 hectares Seascape Placement
5 years: 24 hectares Seascape Placement

During the 5-year timespan none of these scaleup pilots and demonstrations will have restored the seagrass meadows. The largest of these at 24 hectares represents what today would be considered a large-scale restoration of any seagrass meadow. Projecting into the future a total of 44 hectares will serve as habitat for 3,520,000 fish. It would serve about 90,000 people. If the seascape placement is done to protect coral reefs at a critical location the 36 hectares identified is estimated to provide $400,000 per year in flood protection for 100,000 people.

How are you measuring your progress toward your impact goals?

Nutrient Reduction

Sediment Core Sample laboratory analysis is the most rigorous method to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of nitrogen removal. However, laboratory services may not be available in the field at remote locations. As dissolved oxygen is distributed to the upper sediment layer, we will monitor changes and control the oxygen flow rate. A typical starting point will have a large sediment oxygen demand due to prolonged eutrophication. As oxygen is consumed and the top layer of sediment becomes more oxic dissolved oxygen concentration in the bottom water will rise. Through our pilot/scaleup work we should know at what levels dissolved oxygen produces sufficient loss of nitrogen.

Seagrass Restoration

Once our experience curve has determined oxygen characteristics signaling that we have reached our objective, ideally for a total nitrogen concentration, we would quantify and validate that conclusion. If laboratory services are not available, we can follow the rules explained in the prior section. This same methodology could be used for both conditions for restoration: thinning seagrass meadows and bare sediment.

Seascape Restoration

Seascape restoration is regrowing seagrass meadows by choosing where to do it. The same criteria apply. Since we target declining coral reefs due to ocean acidification, we first need to collect pH information that can be done with local instruments. After a baseline is established, the seagrass can be restored. In about 5 years when the restored seagrass meadow is healthy more pH measurements can be used to confirm the effectiveness of the approach.

About Your Team

What type of organization is your solution team?

For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models

How many people work on your solution team?

Full time staff: 1

Carl Persson is the Founder of Ocean Solutions.

Part-time staff: 0

Contractors or other: 0

Advisory Board Members: 2

How long have you been working on your solution?

4 years

How are you and your team well-positioned to deliver this solution?

We need to develop our technology before we can deliver solutions. For this phase we are well positioned in part because of the “Ocean-Shots” program that offers funding and collaboration with implied depth and breadth beyond what startups typically have. Backgrounds of chemical process/project engineering with some graduate studies in oceanography, and entrepreneurship serve as well in having both a technical and business foundation. For implementation we need team building. Service operations during distribution day/night should require 1 to 2 people per floating system.

I learned with the Cape Cod community as a resident about the nutrient problems threatening our peninsula and the need for solutions. The nature-based solution drew on my technical background and my understanding of the problem and stakeholders. The Cape Cod solution is based on one factor, nutrient removal, when there are two other major issues to be addressed: speed and cost. Locals understand cost but not speed. One of my customer discovery activities led me to a town’s Water Resources meeting which were small and primarily town officials. The influencer who represents the conventional wastewater approach became easily known. Existing innovative alternatives were dismissed because they lacked capacity.

From the perspective of our solution delivering impact, speed, and low cost we expect to disrupt existing markets with a much better value proposition while pioneering new markets. By being nature-based we ae not harmful to the land, water, or town pocketbooks. Our systems are built with modular components with a design that is inherently flexible.

What is your approach to building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive leadership team?

We are a for-profit startup where only the Founder is working full time. Our two Advisory Board members were chosen because of their interest and relevant background. The issues in this section are not now top of mind but are reflected in our choice of challenge and approach to solutions.

There are 3 phases to our business development.

Research and development for proof-of-concept and scaling to reach commercialization. Our affiliation as an Ocean-Shot will be broadly collaborative and may offer opportunities for team building. We will recruit for needed and complementary skill sets, character, startup culture fits and preparation for commercialization. The team will be small in this phase.
Market introduction is expected to be influenced by US Ocean Decade needs. We expect that the work will be done within the US and its territories. We would hire by need, complementary skill sets, character, and company fit. Given that we will be disrupting existing markets and creating new ones we will need people from other industries who can learn and adapt to our new opportunity.
Market growth will include international expansion. Some of the largest problems we believe we can solve are located overseas. We are connecting with people overseas already and will need to strengthen our effort in the future. We will establish some foreign operations and license technology more broadly. We must hire talent that fits with the culture of our customers wherever they are.

Equity will be available for the leadership team.

Your Business Model & Partnerships

Partnership & Prize Funding Opportunities

Why are you applying to Solve?

Becoming a social entrepreneur provides an alignment in values that I had not experienced in prior careers in engineering and investment management. As my understanding deepened, I aligned with people pursuing transformational activity to rescue us from ourselves by restoring the health of the oceans. Now is the time.

The broader world around me and its many critical and unsolved problems challenges me to a noble calling by creating solutions and implementing them. The UN Ocean Decade has identified private companies as vital because of the solutions and expertise they bring as well as meeting the UN’s need for exponential business models.

MIT Solve and the UN Ocean Decade look like kindred spirits. As a for-profit, a non-traditional entity solving problems, we must strike a balance between the necessary social benefits required by our world and our business health and ability to survive. Our financial modelling indicates that the benefits of our solutions to our customers are 6 to 10X their cost. Nature-based solutions in general offer a higher multiple of 10 to 15X. The difference is our profit which enables survival, access to capital, and positive cash flow. On a project basis we need to have enough flexibility to provide help to those who need it the most but have weak financial capacity. This will be a balancing act.

MIT Solve can help in these ways:

Building a team
Preparation for raising capital
Identification of the most attractive markets
Connections to potential customers

In which of the following areas do you most need partners or support?

Human Capital (e.g. sourcing talent, board development, etc.)
Financial (e.g. improving accounting practices, pitching to investors)
Public Relations (e.g. branding/marketing strategy, social and global media)
Product / Service Distribution (e.g. expanding client base)

Please explain in more detail here.

Human Capital

We initially need to build the core leadership team. A cofounder with a technical background, strength in public relations and marketing, and an interest in restoring ocean health would be ideal and a priority.

We need to find a science officer with a marine sciences background to ideally include biogeochemistry and chemical oceanography. Such a person should be a core member of the team and who could be an employee but need not be one.

We need an administrative person.

Our goal for the next few years is to assemble a team of 4 to 5 professionals. After major milestones are passed, we will need to plan and begin hiring for market launch and growth. Company leadership will form more specialized departments that will need staffing of their own.

Financial

After initial outsourcing accounting services, we will bring them in house due to the need for pitching for seed capital and follow-on financing. We will need expertise in rapidly evolving Blue Finance as an important source of competitive advantage.

Public Relations

Public relations/marketing is a crucial leadership hire and preferably as a cofounder. We need to develop marketing information and initially identify early adopters within the US. This person will lead and develop this area. As business grows this person would be the leading candidate to become CEO.

Product/Service Distribution

Major obstacles will be successful launch and scaling the business. We have a flexible process capable of serving multiple markets that will need skilled implementation.

What organizations would you like to partner with, and how would you like to partner with them?

Organizations

MIT-Woods Hole Oceanographic Applied Ocean Science and Engineering