Award Data

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 PROCESS STREAMS, OR TO CLEAN UP GROUNDWATER THAT HAS BEEN CONTAMINATED WITH ORGANIC COMPOUNDS. HOWEVER, T ...

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 MANUFACTURED. THIS OPERATION REDUCES RAW-MATERIAL COSTS AND THE ENERGY COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE SYNTHESIS AND ...

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 TOXIC AND ENVIRONMENTALLY UNACCEPTABLE EMISSIONS, AND THEY WILL NOT BE ADEQUATE FOR FULLY UTILIZING THE ...

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 REUSABLE COMPOUNDS. CURRENT VOC-REMOVAL TECHNOLOGIES, SUCH AS INCINERATION, CARBON ADSORPTION, AND C ...

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 SUFFICIENT SELECTIVITY FOR CLEAN SEPARATIONS. PLASMA-POLYMER MEMBRANES OFFER A SOLUTION TO BOTH PROBLEMS. TH ...

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 THE GAS CANNOT BE USED WITHOUT PROCESSING TO REDUCE THE N2 CONCENTRATION. NO TECHNOLOGY EXISTS TODAY F ...

We propose to develop a general purpose computer code for calculating the scattering from antennas on an aircraft, which is described by a CAD file. The scattering contribution will include both the passive structure mode and active irradiation mode, calculcated by a hybrid of a high-frequency ray technique and a rigorous finite element technique. The proposed code will be made compatible with the ...

A NEW TYPE OF RANGE EXTENT SIMULATOR HAS BEEN MADE POSSIBLE THROUGH RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE EMERGING MICROELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY OF ACOUSTIC CHARGE TRANSPORT (ACT). THIS TECHNOLOGY, DEVELOPED JOINTLY BY DARPA AND THE U.S. AIR FORCE, HAS ENABLED THE IMPLEMENTATION OF DIGITALLY PROGRAMMABLE ANALOG MULTITAP DELAY LINES. USED AS A PROGRAMMABLE RANGE EXTENT DEVICE, THE ACT DEVICE PROVIDES HUNDREDS OF ...

THE AIR FORCE HAS BEEN USING COMPUTER-BASED TRAINING FOR MORE THAN 20 YEARS, YET IT STILL CONFRONTS MANY OF THE SAME BASIC PROBLEMS: SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS ARE USUALLY NOT INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNERS, INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNERS ARE USUALLY NOT PROGRAMMERS, CBT COURSEWARE IS EXPENSIVE TO DEVELOP (TYPICALLY 400 HOURS PER HOUR OF DELIVERABLE TRAINING), AND COURSEWARE DESIGN IS RARELY SUPPORTED BY VALIDATED ...

RESEARCH WILL BE CONDUCTED BY HICHEM CORPORATION, TO DEVELOP A NEW TECHNOLOGY FOR PYROLYSIS OF SCRAP TIRES. DISPOSAL OF USED TIRES IS A BIG PROBLEM IN THE WORLD, ESPECIALLY USA, SINCE MORE THAN 2.5 MILLION TIRES ARE DISCARDED EACH YEAR. MOST OF THESE TIRES ARE DISPOSED IN LANDFILLS. PYROLYSIS OF SCRAP TIRES HELPS TO RECOVER AND REUSE MOST OF THE VALUABLE CHEMICAL AVAILABLE IN TIRES. PYROLYSIS OF S ...