Projects

Discover the Youth Food Lab North America’s impactful past projects and work in progress.

Bywater Solutions

Bywater Solutions focused on developing an accessible and low-maintenance method for delivering beneficial bacteria in hydroponic systems. Working with a multidisciplinary team, Bywater Solutions designed a food-safe, slow-release capsule capable of gradually introducing dried bacteria into hydroponic nutrient reservoirs over time. The multi-chamber design allows for controlled, sequential release while minimizing labor and management requirements for growers. By simplifying the application process, this technology aims to make beneficial microbial products more practical and accessible for small- and medium-scale hydroponic farmers.

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Evonatura

EvoNatura is a biotechnology startup engineering plastics to expire by embedding microbes directly into materials. Our technology allows manufacturers to ensure their products have a programmed lifecycle before degrading safely and completely in natural environments. By building in biodegradation, EvoNatura eliminates long-term plastic permanence and microplastic pollution without sacrificing mechanical performance or recyclability.

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Partners in Food Solution – Cassava Peeler

Cassava is a vital food staple for many people in the world because it is drought resistant and very resilient to storage.  Our project worked directly with a food processing company in Uganda that focuses on the cassava value chain, transforming smallholder farms into profitable, sustainable businesses by processing indigenous crops into high-quality, gluten-free flour.  Our project objective was to develop a commercially viable way to remove the outer husk from the cassava tuber enabling the production of a healthy and affordable cassava flour.

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LixiLab

This past semester, a Penn State engineering capstone team partnered with LixiLab to identify the optimal combination of biomaterials for removing lead and chromium from irrigation water. The team tested multiple filter media configurations and achieved removal efficiencies of up to 99% after one hour of contact time. This work advances LixiLab's mission to develop accessible, biological water filtration solutions for agricultural communities affected by heavy metal contamination.

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Rathithi Polytechnic's

The Matatu EV Retrofitting Project is a research initiative that aims to give a second life to old, out-of-service Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles in Kenya. The research focuses on reducing acquisition and operational costs for farm and rural transportation through battery recycling, repurposing out-of-service vehicles, manufacturing electronic parts in-house, and installing solar charging stations. The project has successfully retrofitted a 7 seater van and a 3 wheeler transport vehicle (locally known as a tuktuk). In the most recent research effort, a prototype controller was implemented as part of a Capstone project under the PennState Learning Factory. Future research directions include iterating on the controller prototype, establishing a battery collection and recycling plant and standardizing the retrofitting process.

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Wayne Logan, Technical Lead
Email: loganamollo@gmail.com