Award Data

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project offers a completely new and novel approach to convert biomass to a gasoline-replacing mixed alcohol biofuel. The new approach uses a unique reactor called a controlled cavitation reactor (CCR). Specifically, the CCR provides a uniform source of heat by use of small bubbles in a non-reactive liquid; thus, facilitating heat transfer and ...

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project describes a new approach for reducing infections associated with indwelling medical devices. Bacteria on medical devices are particularly challenging to treat because they form a protective matrix called a biofilm on the surface of the device. It is very difficult to access bacteria in the biofilm state, and systemic use of antibiotics ...

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will employ innovative processing technologies to incorporate highly crystalline ultra-long double wall carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs) into poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide) (Kevlar) to prepare advanced structural fibers for ballistic protection for our law enforcement and soldiers, and structural materials for commercial and military aircraft. Cu ...

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop an earth heat exchanger that has a lower installation cost, lower operating cost, and smaller footprint than the currently available ground source heat pumps. High ground loop installation costs are the primary barrier to broader acceptance of ground source heat pump technology despite its efficiency advantage. By replacin ...

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project seeks to enable the global acceptance of cloud computing. Infrastructure outsourcing has become increasingly profitable and efficient for IT departments, but it has also birthed a new problem. Online application developers are left almost entirely unable to manage or even track the real-time performance of their applications as a user would e ...

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will substantially and rapidly increase environmental and food safety by testing the feasibility of using carbon nano-tube covered sensors to electrochemically detect the amount of mercury in substances such as water or fish, by vaporizing a small spot of the substance to determine mercury levels in each sample as it is being processed ...

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will demonstrate the feasibility of using a novel enzyme from a marine bacterium as part of a process to convert biomass to ethanol. The Trillium laboratory has preliminary data that indicates that this enzyme has unique characteristics that enables a low-cost process for converting xylose, a common biomass-derived sugar, into ethanol ...

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to develop a novel approach to generate electricity without ?burning? fuel by using organic material obtained from bio-waste as a fuel. Unlike the conventional biomass-to-energy conversion, the current approach directly converts bio-waste, such as waste wood and agricultural biomass into fuel. Fuel has a zero carbon footprint, as ...

The applicant will develop a wave energy harvesting system for NOAA buoys. It will ve entirely self-contained (no protruding elements), modular, scalable, and easily deployed. The system employs a unique, inertial mechanism that responds to acceleration forces created by waves. This mechanism will be combined with (1) a proprietary generator that is sensitive to very low levels of torque and ha ...

One of the most critical challenges facing our war fighter is to detect enemy fire quickly and accurately for force protection. Existing acoustic systems protect against gunshots only and are relatively slow; optical systems are large and expensive, suffer from a high false alarm rate, and do not provide 360 degree coverage. To address these issues, Oceanit has developed an enhanced Hostile Fire ...