BYLINE: Beth Burmahl
Newswise — Argonne partners in collaboration to turn water‑focused innovation into new technologies and businesses that strengthen the Great Lakes economy.
Wastewater — one of the nation’s most untapped assets — is rapidly emerging as a stream rich in critical materials that can be captured and reinvested in the U.S. economy.
To help unlock that potential, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $45 million to a regional innovation and economic development initiative that aims to turn wastewater into a valuable resource through cutting‑edge water-driven technology and innovation.
The initiative, Great Lakes RENEW (Recovery of Energy, Nutrients, Critical Elements, and Water), is a collaboration of research institutions, companies and economic development organizations. RENEW is led by Current, a Chicago-based water innovation hub. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago are core partners.
“Water security is national security, and Great Lakes RENEW is advancing both,” said Alaina Harkness, CEO of Current and CEO and Principal Investigator of Great Lakes RENEW. “With NSF’s continued investment, we are developing solutions to recover critical materials and energy from wastewater, remove harmful contaminants that threaten water supplies, and reduce water risk for industry and communities. By accelerating technologies from lab to market and building a skilled workforce to deploy them, RENEW strengthens American resilience, competitiveness, and economic opportunity.”
The initiative was launched in 2024 with an initial $15 million award from NSF, establishing Great Lakes RENEW as an NSF Regional Innovation Engine.
The three-year, $45 million award will support the initiative as it moves from its two‑year launch phase into a broader strategy of growth and implementation, expanding its programs, partnerships, and impact across the region. There is the potential to unlock $160 million in NSF funding over 10 years by meeting specific milestones.
Great Lakes RENEW spans six states in the region, with early work focused on Illinois, Ohio and Wisconsin. Efforts will expand to Indiana, Michigan and Minnesota in the next phase.
The NSF award signals strong confidence in RENEW’s momentum as it transforms water‑driven innovation into technologies and businesses that strengthen the Great Lakes economy. It also highlights Argonne’s role as a core scientific and translational partner, applying its expertise in materials science, AI‑enabled discovery, scale‑up and workforce development to move breakthrough ideas toward real‑world impact.
Argonne advances water-driven technology
A pioneer in separations technologies, Argonne is advancing membrane, biological and electrochemical systems to recover clean water and extract critical minerals from wastewater. These technologies use differences in size, charge, chemistry or surface interactions to pull specific components out of complex mixtures — whether removing contaminants or capturing valuable materials that would otherwise be lost.
Industrial wastewater contains critical materials such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and rare earth elements — ingredients essential to technologies ranging from semiconductors to military systems, industrial catalysts and everyday electronics like smartphones and laptops. Lithium, cobalt and nickel are critical components in battery technologies.
Municipal wastewater often contains nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen, which can be recovered and reused in fertilizers — turning a waste stream into a valuable agriculture resource. Wastewater also carries recoverable thermal and chemical energy that can be harnessed across industrial and municipal systems, expanding the resource base for the broader energy landscape.
The goal of RENEW is to transform wastewater into new domestic resources that strengthen U.S. supply chains, support industry, reduce dependence on imported materials, and help reinvest materials, energy and value instead of being used once and discarded.
In its first two years, RENEW has helped Argonne accelerate progress in advanced separations and water innovations, with technologies supported by the lab’s Materials Engineering Research Facility.
“Argonne has laid the groundwork, demonstrated early breakthroughs, and now — with significant NSF investment — is positioned to scale technologies and validate them through Argonne-supported multi-scale test beds,” said Junhong Chen, a professor at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago and Argonne’s lead water strategist, as well as co-principal investigator and use-inspired R&D Lead for RENEW. “Argonne shares RENEW’s goal to advance technologies to the marketplace, eventually putting these innovations into the hands of people across the U.S. and globally.”
This work integrates Argonne’s wider expertise — from materials science and systems engineering to community and workforce development — with the goal of scaling these innovations into real‑world deployment.
Alongside Argonne, the University of Chicago helps shape the scientific and translational roadmap for turning “waste into wealth,” bringing deep research strengths and an innovation strategy that reinforces RENEW’s core mission.
The water workforce of the future
RENEW is building a regional workforce infrastructure that helps education and training providers create clear, connected career pathways across the water industry, with Argonne as a core partner.
Argonne contributes its long-standing strengths in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education and workforce development programs. The lab’s STEM programs reach 35,000 learners, spanning K-12 through community colleges and universities.
Argonne is playing a leading role in promoting an AI-ready workforce in the U.S. by partnering with educators and administrators to explore the most effective ways to bring AI into classrooms. AI training is becoming essential at every level — from early STEM exposure to advanced technical preparation.
“We’re excited to continue our partnership with RENEW,” said Meridith Bruozas, Argonne’s institutional partnership director. “By bringing Argonne’s strengths in science, technology, AI and workforce development to this regional effort, we can help prepare the next generation for water careers and ensure workers at every stage have clear routes into the growing, AI‑enabled water economy.”
Innovative regional engines power national water goals
RENEW is not just a regional project. It is part of a national strategy to build durable innovation engines that can transform local economies. The $160 million in additional potential funding for Great Lakes RENEW is part of a potential $1.6 billion commitment by NSF to create regional innovation engines across the U.S. over the next 10 years.
This would be one of the single-largest investments in regional research and economic development in the nation’s history.
These investments reflect a long‑term commitment to transforming the region’s strengths into national advantage, with Argonne’s scientific leadership and regional partnerships playing a central role in realizing that vision.
For more information about Great Lakes RENEW, visit https://greatlakesrenew.org/.
Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology by conducting leading-edge basic and applied research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://energy.gov/science.