Award Data

Acrolein (CH2=CHCHO) 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, includi ...

Various oily wastes are generated while performing vehicle maintenance operations, including used oil drained from the engine, the oil filter, and even oil absorbent the is used to clean up oil that has spilled on the floor. At one time these wastes were placed in landfills. Concerns with oil from these waste migrating into surface and ground water has prompted a number state and federal regulat ...

Direct Energy Solutions proposes to design, fabricate and test a basic prototype decontamination device for building protection from chemical and biological weapons attack and the general enhancement of indoor air quality. The decontamination device generates metastable Singlet Delta Oxygen (SDO), O2 (a1¿), a strong oxidant of biological and chemical pathogens, from direct optical excitation of ...

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 ...

This SBIR Phase II proposal addresses development of a field-portable, amperometric biosensor for monitoring organophosphorus (OP) and carbamate insecticides in water. The miniaturized biosensor will use a modified screen-printed microelectrode with high sensitivity and lowlimit of detection for OP and carbamate pesticides. This biosensor will be selective for OPs and carbamates. The enzyme use ...

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) remain a significant environmental threat even though manufacturing of PCBs was discontinued 30 years ago. PCBs are toxic amd suspected to carcinogenic to humans and are therefore carefully monitored. Due to the chemical and thermal stability of PCBs in the environment and the continued use of rtansformers containing these chemicals, very specific regulations are ...

We have previously reported a simple method to detect viable Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts in drinking water using the isothermic Nucleic Acid Sequence Based Amplification (NASBA) method, coupled with a rapid liposme nanovesicle (Nanozome)-based biosensor technology. This assay system is based upon the ability to immunocapture low numbers (i.e., five or more) oocysts and heat shock them to induc ...

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 ...

The opportunity of this proposal is to develop a new ¿Sparker¿ process for treating organic hazardous contaminants in water and liquid waste, including persistent and bioaccumulative and toxic chemical (PBT¿s), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH¿s). Sparker technology also has potential for in-situ treatment of dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPL¿s) and sludge. Sparkers ...