Award Data

This Phase I Small Business Innovation Research Project develops methods of recycling rare earth alloys from used nickel metal hydride batteries. Alloys of rare earth metal, nickel and other metals provide functional hydride storage materials that are critical to the operation of nickel metal hydride batteries and their applications. The current fleet of hybrid electric vehicles relies upon nick ...

Current anaerobic digester systems are designed for capturing energy from waste from large heads of farm animals. GHD, Inc., a leading manufacturer of anaerobic digesters, has stated that a minimum dairy heard size for economical implementation of a biogas system as 800 cows. These require turbine or diesel generator sets of 100 Kilowatt size and larger, a limiting factor in economically scaling ...

We propose the development of a near infrared/shortwave infrared (NIR/SWIR) sensor based on mercury cadmium telluride (HgCdTe) in an n-type/barrier/n-type (nBn) architecture, designed for room-temperature operation in the 0.7 to 2.8µm NIR/SWIR spectral range. The sensor will compete as a low cost/high performance alternative to near infrared indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs)-based cameras by prov ...

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The photographic industry consumes about 70 million troy ounces of silver annually. The technology used to recover the silver from concentrated solution is more than 40 years old. However, investigators project that, based on industry experience, as much as 20% of this silver is lost in the wash water and goes unrecovered. The toxicity of silver in the effluent is a growing concern in the United ...

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 EPAESTIMATES THAT UP TO 20% OF THE DRINKING WATER THAT COMES FROM GORUNDWATER CONTAINS VOCS. METHODS FOR ...

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 IMPORTANT GIVEN THE TOXICITY OF MANY COMMONLY USED METALS. CURRENTLY AVAILABLE SENSOR TECHNOLOGY FOR ...

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 INADEQUATE AND EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE. NEW METHODS ARE CLEARLY NEEDED FOR REMOVING TOXIC METALS FROM PROCESS S ...

THE DESIREABLE PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF LEAD ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ITS WIDESPREAD USE IN WATER DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS PLUMBING SYTEMS, EVEN THOUGH VERY LOW LEVELS OF LEAD MAY POSE A SIGNIFICANT HEALTH HAZARD AND CAUSE LEARNINGDISABILITIES IN CHILDREN. THOUGH MUNICIPAL WATER SUPPLIES GENERALLY HAVE VERY LOW LEAD LEVELS, THEY FREQUENTLY BECOME CONTAMINATED WITH LEAD FROM THE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM AND/O ...