Award Data

HJ Science & Technology, Inc. proposes a portable microfluidic automation technology capable of rapid and real time detection and identification of microcystins and other toxins produced by freshwater cyanobacteria (cyanotoxins). During blooms, many cyanotoxins in freshwater are known to cause damage to liver or damage to nerve axons and synapses. Though not strictly regulated, the EPA recommends ...

There are approximately 7,000 flares in operation at industrial facilities across the U.S. Flares are one of the largest Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) and air toxics emissions sources. Based on a special emission inventory required by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in 2007, highly reactive VOC emissions from 28 flares located in 11 facilities in Harris County, Texas, where 1,46 ...

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project concerns the design and high-throughput and low-cost manufacturing of metal-based miniature gas chromatograph (mGC) sensor structures. The proposed mGC sensor design and manufacturing is unique and offers competitive advantages as compared to current "micro GC" devices/systems on the market. Miniaturized GC Sensors are envisioned to be ...

This Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) Phase I project will develop leap-ahead improvement to public safety radio networks (PSRN). The problems associated with communication during a catastrophic event are well documented. One area of particular concern is the unreliability of PSRN. Generally speaking the PSRN performance is worst when the system is needed most; in the early stages ...

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project helps unlock the potential of forests to provide sustainable, carbon-neutral raw material for much of the nation's energy and chemical needs. Current technology cannot efficiently separate cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin (the major components of wood as well as cellulosic biomass). Cellulose can be used to make paper, lignin can be b ...

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposes to develop a new technology for monitoring aggregation in therapeutic protein solutions that will have wide-ranging impact in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Protein aggregation is a major problem across these sectors engaged in developing new protein pharmaceuticals. Protein aggregation can elicit immune resp ...

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project proposes to use an innovative approach to metabolically engineer algae that will enable low-cost, carbon-free hydrogen production at medium to large scale. The metabolic pathway for hydrogen production in microalgae is tightly regulated. Process models for hydrogen production are based on anaerobic sulfur-deprivation preventing genera ...

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project proposes to develop and commercialize surface-engineered silicon anodes for use in lithium-ion batteries. Silicon has a ten fold greater charge capacity than graphite but its practical use as an anode material is hindered due to the mechanical problems associated with lithiation cycles (cracking, pulverization) and unwanted chemical reaction ...

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project, if successful, will have immediate value for the pharmaceutical industry by accelerating research and discovery of new drugs, and also increasing production efficiency and safety. The technology also is applicable in many other sectors; e.g., monitoring natural polymers, such as dissolution ...

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will determine whether integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) can be imported from off-shore salmon farms where the concept is being pioneered into on-land recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS). RAS Corporation, and the University of Maine's Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research are already employing a tank of black s ...