EPA SBIR 2016 Phase I Solicitation

Industrial and energy production processes emit a variety of contaminants into the air. Some of these contaminants are directly toxic to human health and the environment, some are greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming and, thereby, indirectly affect human health and the environment, and some are both. The EPA uses a variety of approaches to address these issues, including requiring the use of control technologies, setting emission and air quality standards, creating voluntary programs to achieve or go beyond compliance with standards, and doing R&D to create and validate the performance of monitoring devices and technologies that enable prevention, treatment, recycling, and disposal of contaminants and contaminated media.

With this in mind, EPA is interested in supporting the development and commercialization of innovative technologies that address the following topic.

• 1A: Lab-on-a-chip sensors for organic pollutants in homes: Lab-on-a-chip sensors for very affordable, in-home, real-time, and continuous measurement and reporting of multiple (not single) organic contaminants at trace (parts per trillion) concentrations that can be easily deployed and results understood by the homeowner or resident.

Lab-on-a-chip sensors for very affordable, in-home, real-time, and continuous measurement and reporting of multiple (not single) organic contaminants at trace (parts per trillion) concentrations that can be easily deployed and results understood by the homeowner or resident.

For roughly half the world’s population, the source for both cooking and keeping warm is a simple fire pit surrounded by three large stones arranged to keep a cooking surface above the flames. The World Health Organization estimates that indoor air pollution from such cooking fires contributes to nearly two million premature deaths annually.

The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves is coordinating a multi-national, multi-disciplinary effort to address the need for better cookstoves in developing countries. Its approach involves enhancing demand for clean cookstoves and fuels, strengthening the supply of clean cookstoves and fuels, and fostering the enabling environment for a thriving market for clean cooking solutions.

Together with other Federal agencies and private sector partners that support the Alliance’s efforts, EPA is supporting research that evaluates cookstove performance in the laboratory and in the field.

The need for electrical power is increasingly being added to the needs for cooking and providing heat in homes in developing countries. A technical challenge is to integrate all three capabilities into a single technology that could work in such conditions. Therefore, EPA is looking for the development and commercialization of:

• 2A: Integrated cooking, heating, and electric power generation. Successful technologies will be able to function using small amounts of a variety of fuels (e.g., various types of biomass, liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons, solar, etc.), produce far less indoor air pollution than currently used technologies, be affordable, have wide applicability, be rugged and reliable, and easy to use.

Successful technologies will be able to function using small amounts of a variety of fuels (e.g., various types of biomass, liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons, solar, etc.), produce far less indoor air pollution than currently used technologies, be affordable, have wide applicability, be rugged and reliable, and easy to use.

Executive Order 13329 directs the EPA to properly and effectively assist the private sector in its manufacturing innovation in order to sustain a strong manufacturing sector in the U.S. economy. These innovations often involve engineering and technical solutions that make the manufacturing operation and/or the manufactured product both more environmentally and economically sound.

The EPA is seeking the development and commercialization of innovative technologies that, when compared with currently available technologies, have dramatically better performance, decreased cost of production, and reduced environmental impacts in both production and use.

The production, use, recycle/reuse, and disposal of plastic materials and products still pose significant environmental and human health problems. Toxic fumes that affect workers and neighbors of manufacturing facilities and that off-gas in the home are one type of problem. Another is portrayed by the very graphic pictures of ocean wildlife fatally caught in plastic holders for soda cans. The EPA is seeking innovative plastics that are less hazardous in both their production and use.  This means that technologies proposed for this topic must achieve both of these goals in order to be successful, as follows:

1. The EPA is seeking more sustainable ways of manufacturing plastics that eliminate the use of toxic chemicals in their production, greatly reduce the amount of energy used, and eliminate toxic pollutants that result from the manufacturing process, and
2. the plastics that are manufactured using these improved processes should not emit toxic fumes, should not be toxic if ingested, should rapidly biodegrade in soil and water, and should be easily recycled/reused.

These considerable improvements should result in the following:

• 3A: Non-toxic and biodegradable plastics: Manufacture and use of the next generation of non-toxic and biodegradable plastic materials and products.

Manufacture and use of the next generation of non-toxic and biodegradable plastic materials and products.

In February 2012, the EPA issued a document, “Existing Chemicals Program: Strategy” under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) which noted that the TSCA inventory of chemicals in commerce now exceeds 84,000 chemicals. Furthermore, periodic TSCA chemical data reporting has indicated that there are approximately 7,000 chemicals currently produced at volumes of 25,000 pounds or greater. Under TSCA, the EPA is responsible for assessing the safety of these commercial chemicals and to take necessary action if there are significant risks to human health or the environment from those chemicals.

To implement this Strategy, the EPA developed a number of Action Plans for addressing specific chemicals of concern. Based on these plans, the EPA is seeking technological innovations that can be developed and commercialized to address the following need:

• 4A: Less toxic coatings: Polyurethane coatings that do not have free isocyanate groups in their monomers or pre-polymers.

Polyurethane coatings that do not have free isocyanate groups in their monomers or pre-polymers.

The Office of Water (OW) has the goal of being a catalyst for fostering the protection and sustainability of water resources in the U.S. and around the globe. It has produced two papers that are intended to help achieve this goal. The first is the March 27, 2013, “Blueprint for Integrating Technology Innovation into the National Water Program.” The second is the April 2014 “Promoting Technology Innovation for Clean and Safe Water: Water Technology Innovation Blueprint—Version 2” (EPA 820-R-14-006).

These papers identify 10 market opportunities for technology innovation. This solicitation addresses two of these opportunities: nutrient recovery and energy recovery. Consequently, EPA is seeking innovative technologies that address the following needs:

• 5A: Resource and/or Energy Recovery: Innovative technologies that can cost-effectively do one or, preferably, both of the following. The ideal technologies will be applicable to both small and large treatment systems.
  
  The technologies should recover potentially valuable resources from wastewater and sewage sludge, such as nutrients (e.g., nitrogen and/or phosphorus, micronutrients, etc.), heavy metals (e.g., copper, zinc, molybdenum, magnesium), precious metals (e.g., palladium, platinum, gold, silver), plasmids, and rare earth elements, and/or produce enough energy from treating the wastewater and sewage sludge to operate the treatment facility on a continuous basis.

Innovative technologies that can cost-effectively do one or, preferably, both of the following. The ideal technologies will be applicable to both small and large treatment systems.

The technologies should recover potentially valuable resources from wastewater and sewage sludge, such as nutrients (e.g., nitrogen and/or phosphorus, micronutrients, etc.), heavy metals (e.g., copper, zinc, molybdenum, magnesium), precious metals (e.g., palladium, platinum, gold, silver), plasmids, and rare earth elements, and/or produce enough energy from treating the wastewater and sewage sludge to operate the treatment facility on a continuous basis.

A large portion of the waste materials created in the United States results from the construction and demolition of buildings. These materials include concrete, wood, metal, glass, wallboard, and plastic. Much of this material goes to landfills. Waste reduction could be achieved by constructing buildings with innovative materials and creating demolition processes that increase the recycling and reuse of those materials. As a result, there is a need for the development and commercialization of the following:

• 6A: Innovative Construction Materials: Innovative commercial building Construction Materials that are stronger, more durable, last longer, weigh less, have lower volume, are less toxic, cost less to produce, and will be easier to recycle and reuse than currently used materials.

Innovative commercial building Construction Materials that are stronger, more durable, last longer, weigh less, have lower volume, are less toxic, cost less to produce, and will be easier to recycle and reuse than currently used materials.

The Bioterrorism Act of 2002 and associated Presidential Directives and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and other EPA authorizing legislation give EPA responsibility for remediating indoor and outdoor areas that are chemically, biologically, or radiologically contaminated due to disasters and terrorist acts. EPA is interested in developing and commercializing innovative technologies that can help reduce the risk of and remediate such contamination once it has occurred. Such technologies should perform far more effectively and affordably than currently available technologies. They include:

• 7A: Decontamination of railroad and subway cars: Technologies that can inactivate and/or remove biological agents from the interior and exterior of railroad cars and subway cars.

Technologies that can inactivate and/or remove biological agents from the interior and exterior of railroad cars and subway cars.