Award Data

Polymer composites are widely used for automotive body panels to save weight, increase fuel efficiency, and eliminate corrosion. However, unlike metals, structural polymers are not electrically conductive; thus, they are not amenable to the industry standard technique of electrostatic spray painting (ESP). Current methods for adapting polymers to ESP pose serious environmental and economic chall ...

Regenerative medicine is an emerging, interdisciplinary field that will result in new engineered medical products. The introduction of a high-resolution, non-destructive imaging technique that is capable of penetrating deeply into the highly-scattering scaffold medium has the means to accelerate the development and commercial utilization of these novel materials. Multi-photon microscopy (MPM) is b ...

Lead in household paint and dust is a serious health hazard as low level lead exposure can result in a number o adverse health effects, especially in children. On-site and real-time detection and quantification of lead in the paint/dust is very important to homeowners and certified lead-based paint removal professionals. Toward this end, both field-portable equipment (such as x-ray fluorescence ...

SAFE, COST EFFECTIVE ALTERNATIVES TO CHLORINE TREATMENT OF DRINKING WATER FOR DISTRIBUTION AND DISINFECTION HAVE BEEN SOUGHT FOR SOME TIME. CHLORINE DIOXIDE IS A VIABLE ALTERNATIVE TO CHLORINE FOR THE TREATMENT OF EVEN POOR QUALITY WATER SUPPLIES AND THE REDUCTION OF POTENTIAL CANCER CAUSING CHLORINATED ORGANICS. ITS WIDESPREAD USE HAS BEEN INHIBITED BY THE COSTS AND/OR COMPLEXITY OF ITS PRODUCTIO ...

THERE ARE NUMEROUS INDUSTRIAL PROCESSES REQUIRING THAT MATERIAL BE HEATED AND THEN SUBSEQUENTLY COOLED. IF MOST OF THIS HEAT IS RECOVERED AND RECYCLED TO THE OVEN, THE NET POWER INPUT TO THE OVEN COULD BE SUBSTANTIALLY REDUCED. THE KEY TO ACCOMPLISHING THIS IS AN INCREASE OF THE HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENT BETWEEN GAS AND MATERIAL SO THAT THE HEAT EXCHANGERS ARE RESASONABLY COMPACT. SIMPLE EXPERIMEN ...

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project is designed to develop and optimize a prototype environmentally friendly isocyanate-free solvent-free UV curable hybrid resin system demonstrated in EPA SBIR Phase I research to have properties suitable for commercial industrial applications such as automobile refinishing, floor coatings, and aircraft coatings. Properties of the proprietary ...

The proposed sorbents will have potential applications in i) industrial wastewater treatment plants, ii) municipal wastewater treatment plants, iii) nuclear waste treatment plants, iv) drinking water treatment plants, v) several types of existing point-of-use and point-of-entry water purifying systems, and vi) for remediation of various mercury contaminated sites using permeable reactive barrier ( ...

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) occur in aquatic environments when conditions trigger an increase in the abundance of organisms that produce toxins. The toxins are transferred through the food web where they affect and even kill zooplankton, shellfish, fish, birds, marine mammals, and possibly humans. HABs have been estimated to cost the U.S. economy as much as $50 million per year due to the closure ...

This Phase I SBIR program¿s objectives are to demonstrate producing potentially very low cost nano/meta-structured thermal spray powders using recycled scrap tools or very low cost ceramic powders and to demonstrate superior materials properties of the meta-structured coating when applied using thermal spray. The result would be a new class of very low cost, nano structured cerment coatings th ...

OVER THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS, THE EPA HAS DEVOTED MAJOR EF- FORTS TO IDENTIFY AND DOCUMENT THE MAGNITUDE OF THE RISKS OFENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION DUE TO LEAKING UDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS (UST). IN APRIL 1987, THE EPA PUBLISHED THE PROPOSED REGULATIONS FOR THE OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF UST, WHICH ARE EXPECTED TO BE FINALIZEDD IN EARLY 1988. THESE REGULATIONS INCLUDE REQUIREMENTS FOR TANK TIGHTNESS TESTS, ...