Award Data

Arsenic contamination in drinking water is a severe health risk to populations throughout the world, including the United States. In recognition of this threat, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently lowered its water standard for arsenic from 50 ppb to 10 ppb. This change is expected to impact 10 percent of U.S. community drinking water systems. The operators of small water sy ...

Oxides of nitrogen, or NOx, are common air pollutants in congested urban areas. NOx contributes to a variety of environmental problems, including ground-level ozone (smog), acid rain, and visibility impairment. NOx emissions are generated by motor vehicles, industrial facilities, and electric power plants. The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 required that stationary sources, such as power plan ...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced its intention to regulate mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants because of mercury¿s impact on the health and development of young children and fetuses. The estimated cost of controlling mercury emissions from power plants runs from $2 to $5 billion annually, with a significant fraction of the total dedicated to activated carb ...

This project will address the feasibility of an ambient temperature chloroaluminate ionic liquid as a medium for efficient electroplating of high-quality aluminum. The chloroaluminate, composed of a mixture of aluminum chloride and an organic chloride salt, is liquid at room temperature. These media promise highly effective plating of crystalline, nondendritic, nonporous aluminum. This process ...

The abatement of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from combustion sources traditionally has been conducted by selective catalytic reduction over vanadia-titania with an ammonia reagent. However, this presents requirements and associated costs for ammonia use and storage as well as loss due to ammonia slip. This Phase I research project addresses the removal of NOx without ammonia in the presence of sulfur ...

During this Phase I research project, MO-SCI Corporation will develop a method for recycling industrial phosphate waste as a low-cost raw material for innovative iron phosphate glass fibers. Iron and zinc phosphate sludge generated by the automobile, heavy equipment, appliance, fastener, and other industries using metal phosphating processes typically is landfilled. Preliminary work on industria ...

Acid rock drainage (ARD) is a significant environmental problem. ARD is caused by chemical and biological processes (i.e., the oxidation of sulfide minerals in mine tailings and waste rock) and characterized by acidic water containing heavy metals. Existing technology for combating ARD consists of treating the acidic effluents or isolating problematic tailings or waste rock, but it does not atta ...

Diode-laser spectroscopy has been popular for trace gas metrology of light molecules due to its high specificity. However, the spectrometers are bulky and expensive, and the laser diodes are prone to optical feedback and mode instability. These systems have been largely relegated to the laboratory where they can be operated by highly trained personnel. For industrial and field spectrometers, it ...

This Phase I research is intended to evaluate the feasibility of manufacturing low-cost, acid-resistant sanitary sewer pipe from sulfur concrete. Sulfur is an abundant mineral recovered from coking, natural gas processing, and petroleum refining. Secondary recovery of sulfur, resulting from environmental regulation, produces more material than is needed by U.S. industry. The U.S. Bureau of Mines ...

Drinking water filtration plants nationwide are failing to adequately reduce the public health risk due to exposure to sometimes lethal Cryptosporidium and other microbial particle levels. New regulations also will require reduction of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to minimize the risk from potentially carcinogenic reaction by-products resulting from disinfection. Particle and DBP precursors ar ...