Recovered Potential

PROJECT

One of the two summer 2026 Energy Impact Fellowships will be hosted by Recovered Potential.

Recovered Potential is developing a modular electrochemical stripping process that selectively recovers, purifies, and concentrates ammonia from ammonia-containing waste streams. Over the summer, fellows will refine techno-economic and life-cycle assessment models, map and prioritize industrial wastewater market segments through desk research and expert interviews, evaluate recovered-nutrient product off-take pathways (including product form, transportation, and certification), and benchmark ECS against incumbent and emerging nutrient-management approaches. Fellows will synthesize these insights into actionable recommendations for market entry, process and product development, distribution, and regulatory engagement, delivered in a final report and presentation.

Apply Here

CANDIDATES

Undergraduate students (any year or major) who have a passion for renewable energy and who enjoy working on projects that have tangible social value. Some relevant technical and project management experience or skills would be a plus. Creativity, curiosity, resourcefulness, and the ability to work in collaboration with others are paramount.

PROGRAM BENEFITS

This immersive 8-week summer program will include:

Project management experience in a collaborative team setting
$8,500 stipend
Mentorship
Training in sustainable energy and sustainability concepts and processes

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Research Goal

The central research question of this fellowship is: What are the economic, technological, regulatory, and commercial drivers of nutrient recovery from industrial wastewaters, and how can we leverage these drivers to maximize both the environmental impact and commercial potential of Recovered Potential’s technology?

Part 1: TEA/LCA framework

Set the groundwork for the rest of the project by developing an understanding of existing project knowledge, and building out frameworks for economic and environmental evaluation that help identify knowledge gaps to be addressed during the project.

Fellows familiarize themselves with existing technoeconomic analysis detailing costs of Electrochemical Stripping (ECS) as well as basic comparison cases
Lay out a framework for refining the ECS model to account for:
- Different wastewater characteristics such as suspended solids, divalent content, and conductivity, identifying knowledge gaps such as details of pre-treatment needs
- Different product specs such as concentrations and formulations, identifying knowledge gaps such as value ascribed to different products, or product stream post-processing and distribution needs
Lay out a framework for expanding the competitive model to cover additional emerging technologies, & identify knowledge gaps with respect to these technologies

Part 2: Market segmentation

Through a combination of desk research and expert interviews, map out different segments of the industrial wastewater market. Questions to address include:

In what niches are regulatory / other market forces like space constraints, high operating costs, etc. driving adoption of wastewater nutrient management technologies?
What are representative wastewater characteristics in each of these niches?
In which market segments does ECS offer a distinct advantage vs. other types of treatment?
- In particular, are there niches in which levelized ECS costs are less than existing operational costs?
Where are markets conveniently co-located or otherwise integrated with product offtakers?

Part 3: Product offtake evaluation

Through a combination of desk research and engagement with offtake customers and regulators, define market needs and value propositions associated with certain recovered nutrient products. Questions to address include:

Who are the offtakers, and what are they looking for?
- Forms of product (concentration, formulation, physical state) → processing needs & viability of integrating these steps
Where are the offtakers relative to the source, and how would we transport the product?
- With what frequency, via what modes of transport? (Trucking, piping, etc.)
Regulatory aspect: viability and value of Organic certification / waste-derived classifications

Part 4: Refine economic & environmental models

Incorporate findings from desk research and expert conversations to augment the existing TEA to more fundamentally cover impacts of influent parameters and desired product specs on levelized cost of treatment. Expand and deepen comparisons vs. existing and emerging nutrient removal approaches, including biological nutrient removal, conventional ammonia stripping varieties (chemical dosing / thermal / membrane / air contact / vacuum), algae-based treatment, and intercalation approaches. In addition, build a basic life-cycle analysis quantifying impacts of ECS vs. alternative nitrogen management paradigms (e.g. conventional fertilizer production plus conventional biological wastewater nutrient removal).

Part 5: Synthesize findings into recommendations

Consolidate expert insights and modeling outputs to answer questions such as:

Does RP’s technology provide a distinct edge over incumbent approaches to nitrogen removal/recovery from either an economic or environmental standpoint?
- If so, in what niches? What problems are we solving for these customers, and which niches should RP prioritize?
If not, what are the most promising technical alternatives for cost-effective, environmentally-friendly nutrient management?
What forms of recovered nitrogen products should RP target, and how should it engage in marketing these products?
- What process augmentations are required to achieve these product formulations?
- What distribution modes should RP utilize?
In what ways should RP engage with regulators moving forward?

Fellows will present their findings and recommendations in a final report and presentation to company leaders, fellowship sponsors, and other relevant stakeholders.