BRUNSWICK — Brunswick-based RAS Corporation has been awarded its first Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award in the amount of $150,000 for the purpose of eliminating environmental waste from marine, on-shore aquaculture.

Only a select number of companies nationwide are awarded SBIR grants from the National Science Foundation.

Phase I of this project will determine whether a man-made ecosystem called “integrated multi-trophic aquaculture” can be imported from off-shore salmon farms into onland recirculating aquaculture systems. RAS Corporation and the University of Maine’s Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research in Franklin are already experimenting with black sea bass and marine worms that consume virtually all of the particulate fecal waste and excess feed, thereby eliminating the need for intermediate filtration equipment and associated operating costs.

The Maine Technology Institute had provided seed grants in 2011 and 2012 to initiate these experiments. MTI also supported the SBIR grant application.

RAS Corporation President Chris Heinig said, “We are gratified to receive this valuable support from the National Science Foundation for a project that may well benefit aquaculture globally.”