Award Data

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

A volatile organic compound (VOC) detection system that is portable, sensitive to the low-ppb level, and able to provide reliable measurements in real time is needed for environmental compliance monitoring and process control in chemical plants. Recently, hand-held and battery-powered ppb-level VOC photoionization detectors (PID) have become commercially available. However, the presence of w ...

There are more than 480,000 trucks on U.S. roads, and each vehicle produces up to 20 tons CO2, 420 lbs of CO, 11 lbs of particulates, and 250 lbs of nitrous oxides per year, when idling, and producing auxiliary power needed for the driver’s comfort. A Quiet Reliable and Compact Fuel Cell Based APU (QRCFC-APU) is proposed to significantly reduce these emissions. The QRCFC overcomes challenges wit ...

This SBIR Phase I project aims to develop low-cost and fully biodegradable composites based on plant fibers and a thermoplastic lignin resin. The lignin resin will be based on chemically modified industrial byproduct lignins and will be specially formulated to obtain suitable tensile and shear strengths. It will be made compatible with plant fibers and thus afford good fiber-matrix adhesion and ...

Seacoast Science proposes the extension of our MEMS-based sensor technology to provide near real-time detection, identification, and quantification of toxins and toxigenic organisms indicative of cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms (cyanoHABs) in drinking water to provide administrators the information for public safety. Different monoclonal antibody conjugates will be mapped onto each sensor using ...

Reduction in dependency on imported petroleum and the quest to identify renewable energy sources has led to a search for innovative biofuels derived from renewable biomass, which promise long-term reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Butanol is one possible biofuel. It is an industrial fuel that can be produced from crops using acetone-butanol (AB) fermentation by butanolagenic microbes, such a ...

Nanoparticles exhibit unique optical properties that can be exploited in the development of highly sensitive assay systems. This project describes the development of a lateral flow test strip microarray that will utilize nanoparticle amplification to detect waterborne pathogens. Waterborne pathogens have been chosen for this study because they can cause severe illness, and even death, and theref ...

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

Little manufacturing development has taken place in thermionic cathodes since the mid 1980s; current research efforts are focused on miniaturization of cathodes and an alternate technology, field emission, or cold, cathodes. With the exception of electron guns for commercial CRTs, there has been no concerted effort in standardization, volume manufacturing, or component price reduction. Elcon’s ...

Reduction in dependency of imported petroleum and the quest to identify renewable energy sources has lead to a search for innovative biofuels derived from renewable biomass, that promise long-term reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Butanol is one possible biofuel. It is an industrial fuel that can be produced from crops using acetone-butanol (AB) fermentation by butanolagenic microbes, such ...