Award Data

The objective of this project is to evaluate the feasibility of using some newly discovered materials, water-stable metal-organic frameworks (MOF), as filters for pollutants common in indoor air. By way of background, recent Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)-supported work from Professor Masel’s laboratory has shown that a new class of water-stable MOFs shows unprecedented a ...

Small particulate emissions, such as those that fall within the PM2.5 classification, have a substantial negative effect on air quality and human health. Significant sources of PM2.5 emissions are small two-stroke engines that are used in outdoor power equipment such as leaf blowers, chain saws, and string trimmers, as well as larger two-stroke engines used in recreational vehicles such as al ...

Particulate matter (PM) and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from commercial cooking establishments are a subject of increasing concern around the world. Although increased awareness of the health hazards of respirable particulates and VOCs has promoted the development of new technologies to reduce emissions from restaurants, current technologies do not remove all hazardous air pollu ...

Ethanol production for use as biofuel, which will grow to 166 billion liters worldwide by 2020, produces 3-5 liters of waste for every liter of ethanol. This waste contains significant amounts of stillage that is high in both total suspended solids (TSS) and chemical oxygen demand (COD), requiring significant processing for remediation. Current treatment options such as aerobic and anaerobic ...

Coal tar contaminants, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) currently are difficult to treat in a timely and cost-efficient manner. The generally poor performance of conventional PAH treatment schemes, such as soil flushing or bioremediation, has led to research application of innovative in situ remediation methods. This project focuses on the in situ destruction of recalcitrant coa ...

Among 12 classes of water contaminants grouped in EPA’s WaterSentinel Initiative (WS-CWS detection classes, USEPA 2005c), online detection of toxic industrial chemicals (TIC) and chemical warfare agents (CWA) remains one of the major challenges. This project involves an electrospray ionization-high resolution ion mobility spectrometer (ESI-HRIMS) system that is suitable for detecting CWAs, ...

Acrolein has been identified by the U.S. Clean Air Act as a hazardous air pollutant because of its adverse health effect, particularly on respiratory systems. There are both anthropogenic and natural sources of acrolein in the environment. Acrolein is produced by combustion sources (e.g., vehicle exhaust, prescribed agricultural burning, cigarette smoke) and industrial sources, i ...

The goal of this Phase I project is to develop a new “Sparker” process for treating organic hazardous contaminants in water and liquid waste, including persistent and bioaccumulative and toxic chemicals (PBTs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Sparker technology also has potential for in situ treatment of dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs) and sludge. Sparkers a ...

Mercury is a toxic, volatile metal that is used in electrical switches, relays, and motion detectors because of its electrical conductivity, low volatility, and fluid properties over a large temperature range. Mercury is released into the atmosphere during incineration of trash containing discarded electrical switches, relays, and motion detectors and rapidly migrates to the aquatic environme ...

TIAX previously has evaluated the efficacy of polymeric materials in the removal of chemical and biological agents from surfaces. The system previously evaluated showed better than a two-log removal of simulants for both chemical and biological agents. TIAX is proposing under this Phase I SBIR project to broaden significantly the scope of the technology through application of proprietary syste ...