Commercially available reverse-osmosis membranes are chemically attached by chlorine. thus, chlorination cannot be used to prevent biological fouling of the membrane elements. we propose development of chlorine-resistant membrane elements for brackish water and sea water desalination. the membranes… More

In 1980 the metals and electronics industries generated over seven million tons of hazardous waste at a cost of $100to $400/ton. these sludges, which contain substantial amounts of mixed heavy metals, present a serious disposal problem and represent a waste of natural resources. the intrinsic value… More

Liquid and gaseous fuels produced from coal or shale oil, i.e., "synthetic" fuels, will be major substitutes in the future for the diminishing supply of petroleum-based fuels. a significant problem in the production of synfuels is the generation of large volumes of aqueous wastes, classified… More

Acid gas removal by conventional absorption prodesses is an expensive step in the production of clean fuels from both low- and high-btu coal gases. membrane processes for acid gas scrubbing are comparatively simple and economical. however, conventional polymeric membranes lack the required… More

Extended space missions require extensive recycling of waterto permit frequent washing and bathing of the crew. reverseosmosis (ro), often called hyperfiltration, promises to be a uniquely suited technology for water recycling in spacecraft. however, current membrane module designs have two major… More

The ultimate objective of the proposed research is to develop bioerodible polymer-drug implants that can be used for either long-term systemic or localized drug delivery. the specific aims of the phase i program involve characterizing the drug loading and drug molecular weight range that can be used… More

Supplying adequate drinking water to soldiers on arid or contaminated battlefields is a formidable problem. one possible source of water is engine exhaust; for example, diesel exhaust contains 1.1 pounds of water vapor for each pound of fuel burned. we propose to develop an onboard, compact, easily… More

Membrane gas separations are attractive because of their low operating costs, a consequence of the energy efficiency of membrane processes in general. however, the more widespread use of membrane systems for gas separations is currently limited by their high capital costs. what is needed is a method… More

At the heart of any wastewater treatment system for the manned space station is the treatment subsystem for urine and concentrated wastewater. current subsystems under development by nasa are all based on phase-change processes.we propose a two-pronged research and development effort to provide nasa… More

For future long-term space missions spacecraft water recycle systems are now under development. one water recycle system studied by nasa includes a reverse-osmosis (ro) subsystem that will produce reusable water from wash waters. the concentrate from the ro subsystem will be combined with urine and… More

A significant problem in the use of domestic coal resources to generate power is the production of so2 in power-plant stack gases from the combustion of sulfur in the coal. state-of-the-art so2 scrubbing technology, centered around liquid/gas contactors, is expensive and has operational drawbacks. a… More

More than 3 billion barrels of oil were produced in the united states in 1984. vast quantities of con- taminated oilfield wastewaters are generated as a result of this oil production-often more than 10 barrels of water per barrel of oil. the recovery of oil from tar sands also is responsible for… More

New and potent classes of chemical warfare agents, as well as the ease with which these agents can be manufactured, have made chemical warfare a likely scenario in any future conflict. accordingly, the u.s. army is developing new technologies that will allow our troops to survive and fight on… More

The long-term objective of the proposed program is to develop a controlled-release disulfiram implant for use in the treatment of alcoholism. specific phase i goals are 1. to design candidate systems, based on target performance to be determined from a review of prior research, 2. to prepare a… More

Purification of the products of an enzymatic reaction from dilute aqueous solution can be energy- and equipment- intensive. however, two-layer membrane bioreactors consisting of sandwiches of permselective and immobilized enzyme membranes can be designed to separate and concentratereaction products… More

Many reverse-osmosis membranes commercially available today are made from polyamide or polyurea membranes. these membranes give high salt rejection and high water flux- yet are rapidly degraded when exposed to trace levels of chlorine or other halogen disinfectants used for the pretreatment of feed… More

Virtually all polymeric membranes are more permeable to oxygen than to nitrogen. in current commercial membranes the ratio of oxygen to nitrogen permeabilities is between 2 and 5. with these low selectivities, the highest-purity oxygen-enriched air obtainable in a single membrane stage isabout… More

Aircraft fuel tanks can be protected from fire and explosion by filling the vapor space above the liquid fuel with an inert gas such as nitrogen. a low-maintenance, membrane-based on-board inert gas generation systems (obiggs) is a promising alternative to the currently used high-maintenance liquid… More

In the near future, sustained production of large (kg) quantities of monoclonal antibodies (mab) will be required for therapeutic applications and medical diagnostics. membrane processes are well suited to processing large volumes of culture fluid for recovery of protein products. the long-term… More

Many u.s. industries are finding that their survival will depend on substantially improved productivity. the development of new sensors is vital to the implementation of robotics or automation, the most common means of increasing productivity. in one of the most practical approaches to analyzing… More

The proposed work is directed toward the development of a novel and efficient method for the continuous isolation and purification of biomolecules from complex and dilute mixtures. recent developments in biology allow the design and culture of microorganisms and cells capable of producingspecific… More

This proposal addresses the development of a liquid oxygen absorbent that could be used in the production of high-puri-ty oxygen. when used in the temperature-swing mode, and in conventional gas/liquid contacting equipment, the absorbent could produce high-purity oxygen (98 to 99%). it is antici… More

Enzyme-catalyzed reactions offer attractive procedures for preparing pure enantiomers, including pharmaceuticals, insecticides, and herbicides. despite a plethora of attractive features, enzymes have not been widely accepted as routine catalysts for the preparation of pure enantiomers. one reason… More

Membrane-based gas separations are attractive because of their inherent energy efficiency and low operating costs. however, methods currently available for hydrogen separations are costly and inefficient. polymeric membranesnow in use are capable of only limited selectivity, which leaves substantial… More

Reverse osmosis (ro) is a promising new process for shipboard production of potable water from seawater. however, current ro systems suffer from two problems: 1) fouling caused by the feed streams,and 2) chemical degradation of the ro membranes due to disinfectants (usually chlorine) used in the… More

The navy has a need for a reliable, compact, and energy-efficient compressed-air dehydration system. we propose to develop such a system based on synthetic membrane technology. preliminary experimental and design studies at bend research indicate that it is possible to develop membranes and membrane… More

The removal of organic contaminants from wastewaters is a key aspect of this country's pollution-control effort. however, conventional treatment trains are complicated and expensive. in this proposed program, we will initiate development of a membrane-based process, called pervaporation, for the… More

Membrane fouling, the long-term irreversible decline in permeate flux, greatly limits the application of energy-efficient membranes to industrial processing needs. the economics of many current membrane processes would be improved and the introduction of new membrane applications would be… More

In developing membranes to perform separations, two major technical issues must be addressed: permeate flux and membrane selectivity. a major barrier to the application of membranes in gas or liquid separations is the lack of membrane materials that exhibit both high flux and high selectivity. the… More

A significant development in recombinant dna technology is the capability to express eukaryotic genes in prokaryotes such as escherichia coli. since the natural supply of many eukaryotic proteins of potential clinical or industrial importance is limited, gene cloning and expression offer a… More

Contamination of the nation's drinking water supplies by hazardous, synthetic volatile organic chemicals (vocs) is becoming a widespread problem. this problem is of great concern with respect to contaminated groundwater. groundwater is thesource of drinking water for about half the nation. the… More

Metals and metal complexes play an important role in many industrial processes. due to the widespread and large-scaleuse of metals, monitoring their presence in waste streams and controlling their levels of discharge into the environ-ment are difficult and costly tasks--tasks that are all the more… More

A major problem in the citrus industry world-wide is the formation of bitterness in citrus juices within hour after extraction from the fruit. the primary cause of the "delayed bitterness" is the formation of an intensely bittergroup of compounds called limonoids, principally limonin andnomilin.… More

Polymeric membranes are now used worldwide to perform energy-efficient, low-cost separations of liquid and gas process streams. today's design engineers routinely consider membrane-based unit operations as viable alternatives to "conventional" separation technologies. however, the inability of… More

Vast quantities of industrial acids, bases, processing solutions, and sludges contain heavy metals. these are often hazardous, and if left unregulated, present a serious threat to groundwater and the surrounding environment. technologies available for treating industrial wastes are typically… More

Mammalian cells grown in culture excrete ammonium ion that accumulates in quantities that may limit cell growth and reduce product synthesis. the usual tactic for limiting the accumulation of ammonia is to replace the "spent" mediumwith fresh medium. since medium replacement increases the use of… More

Polymeric membranes have the potential to perform energy-efficient separations in applications in a gas- and vapor-separations market that totals at least $750 million. however, the current sales of membrane systems for these applications is only a few tens of millions of dollars--primarily because… More

Large crew numbers, long-duration missions, and severe launch and resupply penalties make the development of regenerative environmental control and life support systems (eclss) a necessity for bases on the moon or mars, as well as for deep-space flights. the purpose of this proposed program is to… More

Broad-spectrum chemical insecticides are used extensively to control crop pests in agriculture. through effective, these insecticides can be hazardous to the environment and counterproductive. microbial insecticides (microorganisms or their byproducts) show promise as safe, species-specific,… More

Nasa is developing water-electrolysis cells to recharge the extravehicular mobility unit (emu) oxygen bottles in flight. these cells produce high-pressure (up to 6000-psi) oxygen and hydrogen streams saturated with water vapor. these gas streams must be dehydrated to very low water-content… More

This work is directed toward the investigation of a new membrane-based process for the separation of enantiomers in a racemic mixture. many biologically active substances are chiral, and in general only one of the enantiomers in the racemic mixture produces the desired biological activity.… More

Natural gas provides an increasingly important portion of the united states' energy supply. estimated u.s. gas reserves are about 1000 trillion standard cubic feet (scf)--or about 1000 quads. unfortunately, fully 25% of known u.s. gas reserves are contaminated with nitrogen to the extent the gas… More

Several types of photo-responsive polymers have been developed over the past 10 years. however, current limitations (such as irreversibility, inadequate physical changes, and high expense) have prevented their widespread use. bend research proposes to pursue a new class of photo-responsive polymers… More

The need for new materials with improved properties is apparent from the substantial amount of time and money devoted to this research. however, it is impossible using current technologies to produce materials with many combinations of properties that would have high commercial value. however,… More

Hypertension is one of the major health challenges facing researchers in the pharmaceutical field. synthetic peptidesthat are inhibitors of renin and angiotensin-converting enzyme have proved very successful in treating hypertension and have shown promise in treating other diseases. while the demand… More

Improved methods are needed to limit the costly damage caused by forest beetles throughout the u.s. and the world. insect pheromones--chemicals that can be used to control insect behavior--are an attractive pest-control method because of their safety, specificity, and effectiveness. the use of… More

Although the potential advantages of using membrane-based processes for energy-efficient gas and vapor separations arewell known, current membrane systems address only a small fraction of the total separations market, primarily because they do not offer the combination of high permeability and high… More

Reverse osmosis is a membrane process that has the potentialto improve significantly waste-water recycling technology for use in space, and to eliminate or reduce the need for the expendable polishing beds required by existing waste-treatment subsystems. however, to realize this promise,… More

The transdermal route to drug delivery has the advantages associated with rate-controlled drug-delivery systems (e.g.,greater safety, effectiveness, and convenience). in addition, unlike other rate-controlled systems, transdermal drug delivery avoids hepatic "first-pass" effects and gastrointestinal… More

The proposed work is directed toward the development of a novel and highly selective membrane for the continuous purification of valuable proteins such as interferon from complex and dilute mixtures. production of proteins requires three main steps: (1) fermentation or cell culture;(2) isolation;… More

Many pesticides are chiral--that is, their chemical structures exist as a pair of "handed" stereoisomers called enantiomers. chiral pesticides generally exhibit enantioselective action, where only one enantiomer is active and exhibits the desired biological activity. despite mounting evidence that… More

Natural gas provides an increasingly important portion of the u.s. energy supply. estimated u.s. gas reserves are about 1,000 trillion standard cubic feet (scf), or about 1,000 quads. all natural gas at the wellhead contains contaminants that must be removed before the gas is transported through… More

The use of protecting groups is a vital tool in the synthesis of multifunctional molecules such as valuable "newgeneration" pharmaceuticals. when a reaction must be carried out at a specific reaction site, protecting groups are used to temporarily block other sensitive reaction siteson the molecule.… More

Proteins are increasingly being used as pharmaceuticals, diagnostic agents, catalysts in biochemical processes, and growth promoters in mammalian cell culture. commercial processes involving the isolation, storage, and use of thiol-containing proteins are hampered by the lack of practical processes… More

One goal of medical research on hematopoiesis-the growth and differentiation of pluripotent stem cells within the bone marrow-is to duplicate that process in vitro for treatment of disease. current methods are plagued by the inherent complexity of the process; for example, the same growth factors… More

As the u.s. seeks energy independence, coal conversion and utilization processes will play an increasingly important role in providing energy sources. for these processes to besuccessfully exploited, methods must be developed for removing contaminants, particularly hydrogen sulfide (h2s), from the… More

To improve the economics of producing synfuels from coal, novel methods are sought of integrating coal gasification with water-gas shift reactions. because of equilibrium limitations the water-gas shift reaction (co + h2o co2 + h2) currently requires two reactors for obtaining highhydrogen (h2)… More

In response to the nsf's call for innovative engineering approaches to wastewater treatment, we propose a new bioremediation process that relies on enzymes that catalyze degradation of pollutants, immobilized in a novel medium. the process would be designed to pretreat many of the same wastewaters… More

Integrated physicochemical, biological closed-loop life-support systems must be developed for humans to undertake extended extraterrestrial missions. these systemsalmost certainly will include separate but integrated plant and human habitats, not only to provide food for humans and recycle their… More

Nasa is investigating the use of plant-growth chambers (pgcs) for space missions and for bases on the moon and mars. pgcs serve several important purposes; oxygen and food production, carbon-dioxide removal, and water purification and reuse. key to the successful development of pgcs is a system that… More

Microbial oxidation of aromatic hydrocarbons is a powerful technique for obtaining high value intermediates useful for synthesis of pharmaceuticals, pesticides, specialty polymers, and other valuable chemicals. inexpensive fossil-fuel-derived feedstocks such as benzene, toluene, and naphthalene can… More

The potential advantages of membrane-based processes for separations are well known, but current membrane systems have captured only a small fraction of the total separations market-primarily because current membranes do not offer the combination of high selectivity and high flux required for many… More

Opioid peptides are an important class of bioregulators, involved in pain recognition, and gastric, respiratory, and behavioral processes. to supply opioid peptides for research use and eventually pharmaceutical use, new methodologies for the synthesis of opioid peptides must be developed that avoid… More

The objective of this project is to determine the feasibility of developing an novel enzymatic process for the semi-synthesis of taxol. taxol is a promising drug for treatment of ovarian and other cancers. however, it is currently available only in limited quantity by extraction from a rare tree;… More

1The Navy has been investigating membrane distillation (MD) as a means of desalinating seawater aboard ships since 1983. MD could potentially offer advantages over conventional distillation, the technology in most common use now, and could offer an alternative to other promising membrane… More

Chiral drugs administered in enantiomerically pure form offer significant clinical advantages over their racemic counterparts. however, available methods to prepare enantionmerically pure compounds have drawbacks, including high cost, limits on chemical and enantiomeric purity, and difficulty with… More

The principal objective of this project is to determine the technical feasibility of developing a drug-releasing implantfor treatment of alcoholism. specific aims during phase i are to develop prototype implants that release disulfiram metabolites and to test the efficacy of these implants in rats.… More

Chemical process industry separations consume as much as 4.4 quads of energy annually in the united states. many of these separations involve removing organic compounds from aqueous process streams. several types of conventional unit operations are used to remove or destroy organics in aqueous… More

Large quantities of volatile organic contaminants (vocs) are discharged from industrial processes into the atmosphere. the recovery of vocs offers both environmental and economic benefits: each kilogram of organic contaminants recovered and reused represents one less kilogram that must be… More

About 25 percent of u.s. natural gas reserves are rendered unusable by hydrogen sulfide (h2s) contamination; if this sour gas were treated, or "sweetened", the reserves could provide enough natural gas to meet the annual national demand for 6 years. current sour-gas sweetening processes produce… More

Recent investigations indicate that dipeptides may have several advantages over free amino acids as the nitrogen source in therapeutic enteral and parenteral nutrition. if the use of synthetic dipeptides is to be investitaged completely and ultimately incorporated into medical practice, it is… More

The control of volatile organic contaminant (voc) emissions from industrial processes and fuel sources is an important environmental problem. stringent regulations have been enacted that will limit such emissions, heightening the need for small, simple units that can recover vocs and return them as… More

This proposal is directed to the preparation of high-surface-area (HSA) activated-carbon fibers that are suitable for the Army's lightweight chemical-protective combat uniforms. The overall goal of the proposed program is to develop a domestic source of activated-carbon fibers having surface areas… More

The potential advantages of membrane processes for separations are well known. however, current membrane systems have captured only a small fraction of the potential market, primarily because they are made from polymers that are not durable enough for many applications, and they do not have… More

Domestic natural gas provides an increasingly important portion of the u.s. energy supply. estimated u.s. gas reserves are about 1000 trillon standard cubin feet (scf)--or about 1000 quads. fully 25% of the estimated u.s. natural gas reserves are contaminated with nitrogen (n2) to the extent that… More

Chiral drugs, when administered in enathiomerically pure form, offer significant clinicaladvantages over their racemic counterparts. However, available methods for chiral resolution of racemiccompounds, such as diasteriomeric derivatization and chiral chromatography, have drawbacks, includinghigh… More

The Air Force seeks new biological materials for aerospace and commercial applications. Such biological materials should have characteristics that lead to multiple applications or multifunctionality. We propose to use the membrane protein bacteriorhodopsin (BR) in a highly ordered structural form to… More

A new class of RO membrane is proposed that would exhibit unprecedented selectivity against organic compounds. Such membranes would be useful in water-recycle applications in space, as they would lead to exceedingly high water purity. As envisioned, the membranes would behave as "barriers" to… More

Separation processes to recover and purify products account for more than 40% of the energy demand in the chemical process industry (cpi), but membrane processes have gained only a small share of this major market. conventional membranes have had limitations that have preclude their widespread… More

Membrane separations are attractive, energy-efficient processes for numerous applications in chemical processing and waste treatment. conventional membrane polymers, however, are not sufficiently selective or resistant to organic solvents to be useful in many applications. membranes made from… More

Chemical processing industry (cpi) separations consume as much as 4.4 quads of energy annually in the united states and account for the bulk of the cpi operation costs of $22 billion annually. thus, the need for new and improved separation technologies has been widely recognized. separating… More

This proposal is directed at the investigation of new nano-scale ordered structures based on self-assembling biological molecules. The objective of this program is to characterize the two-dimensional crystalline structure of bacteriorhodopsin (BR) as a template into which various nonbiological… More

The U.S. chemical industry accounts for over 200 million tons/year of hazardousliquid waste containing organic chemicals. These waste streams are difficult totreat using conventional technologies such as carbon adsorption and steamstripping. Membrane processes--particularly pervaporation--offer… More

There is an increasing awareness about the problems associated with blood transfusions. One concernbacterial contamination of blood bags. If contaminated blood is transfused, the person receiving thebecoming sick and dying. Current standards require that blood be visually inspected before leaving… More

The objective of this research program is to demonstrate the feasibility of a new controlled-releasuse in an injectable formulation of buprenorphine to improve treatment of opioid dependence. The keytechnology is the use of bioerodible microporous microbeads with a controllable structure that… More

This program is focused on the development of polymers for a new class of membranes that offer an exceptional combination of high permeability and high selectivity compared with that of conventional membranes. these high-performance membranes are based on substituted polyacetylenes-polymers that are… More

This program will demonstrate the feasibility of a new type of enzyme-triggered release forcolon-specific drug delivery. The key to the new technology is the use of novel enzyme-sensitivemembranes coated onto small drug particles, which should allow control over both the time and site ofdrug… More

Navy ships generate large valumes of graywater and oily wastewaters but most have minimal capacities for storing these wastes. The goal of this program is to develop a membrane-based shipboard graywater-treatment system (GTS) that allows recovery of more than 95% of the wastewater, reducing the… More

A major source of volatile organic compound emissions into the environment is thevent stream from the glycol-based dehydration units used to remove water fromnatural gas. A glycol dehydration unit operating on a 50-million SCFD naturalgas stream will typically discharge more than 40 tons per year… More

This proposal is direct toward the development of a new, low-cost process for synthesizing insect pheromones. This process is based on the use of a novel, environmentally benign method using transition-metal catalysts, which should result in high yields of high-purity products. The use of… More

40274 November 6, 1996 Bend Research, Inc. This project will develop a new class of nitrogen (N2)-binding absorbents for removal of N2 from natural gas. These absorbents could be employed in an economical process for treating the large fraction of… More

50426-98-I Novel Membranes for Organic/Organic Separations--Bend Research, Inc., 64550 Research Road, Bend, OR 97701-8583; (541) 382-4100 Dr. Scott B. McCray, Principal Investigator Dr. Rod Ray, Business Official DOE Grant No. DE-FG03-98ER82539 Amount: $75,000 Improved separation technologies… More

Not Available The goal of the proposed program is to definitively assess the use of open-celled polymer foams in the fabrication of large free-standing and self-correcting membrane-based antennas for space applications. This concept avoids the use of inflation gas, le