Natural Resources Research Institute at University of Minnesota

NRRI was created by the MN Legislature in 1983 to deliver applied research informing environmental stewardship and economic development of the state’s natural resources. It is a nationally unique model for integrated research focused on three strategic initiatives: Ecosystem Resilience, Future Forest Industries, and Iron and Minerals of the Future. As part of the University of Minnesota system research enterprise, NRRI employs over 140 scientists, engineers, technicians, staff and students in two industrial research facilities. Through collaborative partnerships, we deliver the innovative tools and solutions needed to utilize and sustain Minnesota’s valuable natural resources. NRRI has extensive laboratory capabilities to discover and deliver at the bench-to-pilot scales, reducing risk inherent in commercializing innovations. NRRI Duluth has 19 labs that address the needs of land, wildlife, water and minerals research, as well as several technology development labs and our new LP Innovation Center, developed in partnership with LP. NRRI Coleraine, a former U.S. Steel R&D facility, is a 27-acre industrial-scale site that was acquired in 1986. The minerals processing and metallurgy labs provide bench to pilot-scale research to broaden the state’s portfolio of ore resources while impacting process efficiencies and improved production of taconite. The engineered biocarbon product development lab tests processes for converting a variety of biomass into fuel and carbon materials up to commercial demonstration scale. NRRI Fens is a 425-acre property near Zim, Minnesota, was acquired in 1986 to restore its function as a valuable peatland and fens bog after being drained in the 1950s for farmland. Decades of effort have restored the peatland - nature’s most effective carbon sequestration solution - and the restoration credits were sold to state agencies. Ongoing research on the site will continue to inform successful peatland restorations across the nation.