Award Data

Exposure to hazardous organic compounds (OCs) in the indoor environment can cause serious health issues. There are no commercially available devices for inexpensive autonomous continuous monitoring of OCs that generates actionable data (identification and quantification of the compound) that can be used for reducing the health risks associated with OC exposure. The proposed sensor technology has ...

The proposed technology addresses the need for mitigation of the impacts of animal agriculture on the environment via recovery of phosphorus and nitrogen. Concentrated animal feeding operations create significant amounts of waste in the form of manure digestate; disposal at a cost of $1.6B. Microbial electrolysis cells have been explored as a chemical free, energy efficient method of extracting nu ...

Suspended ceiling tiles are widely used in commercial and residential construction because they offer flexibility and easy access to utilities. Most of the available tiles absorb water, resulting in sagging, staining, and mold/mildew growth. They also contain potentially hazardous chemicals and release airborne fibers when broken or cut. Existing tiles are not durable, requiring frequent replaceme ...

In 2011, there were 60,000 dairy farms in the US. Of there, 56,600 had herds of fewer than 500 animals. Currently, manure digester installations are only considered economical for herds of at least 500 animals. There require turbine or diesel generator sets of 100 Kilowatt size and larger. The need exists for a smaller waste to energy conversion approach for implementation on small farms were ...

In this program, we will develop a breakthrough technology that will enable wafer-scale epitaxial lift-off (ELO) of GaN power device heterostructures from low-dislocation-density bulk GaN substrates. This technology will be used to provide a low-cost vertical junction field effect transistors (VJFETs) with high breakdown voltage (greater than 1,200 V) and high current capability (greater than 100 ...

This Phase I SBIR addresses the need for a manufacturing method for recovery and recycle of metal removed during electrochemical machining (ECM). Direct current (DC) ECM uses viscous solutions with additives such as fluoride resulting in difficult to control electrolytes, environmentally hazardous waste and low process yield. In contrast, FARADAYICSM ECM uses environmentally benign buffered salt ...

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project will employ Nanofiltration to generate sulfate ion feedstocks and high current density on-site generation (synthesis) of the powerful oxidant peroxodisulphate (“persulfate”) with novel, high reliability boron-doped untrananocrystal-line diamond (UNCD) electrodes to dramatically lower the cost of unconventional fossil fuel (FF) waste water ...

A team of EP Purification and the University of Illinois engineer and chemists is pursuing the commercialization of low cost microchannel plasma modules capable of efficiently producing ozone for water treatment. The conservation of water resources for human consumption is a growing national priority. Contamination of ground municipal water by animal manure, fertilizer and pharmaceuticals, for e ...

Under this SBIR, Imaging Systems Technology (IST) will investigate coating UV Plasma-shells with Titanium (IV) Dioxide (TiO2) to produce a low cost rugged, lightweight, and highly efficient and versatile water purification system. Plasma-shells are tiny hollow gas encapsulating devices ranging in size from 400 microns to 4.00 mm. IST has demonstrated prototype Plasma-shells devices that produce ...

In this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project, NexTech Materials proposes a catalytic reforming approach to remove waste tar from gasified biomass on nickel-based catalysts. Biomass gasification is a potential renewable route to producing electricity, liquid fuels, and value-added chemicals. At high temperatures, carbonaceous biomass reacts with air, oxygen, and /or steam to product ...