Award Data

Sepax Technologies, Inc. has identified a new type of anoin-exchange resin which separates single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with >80% recovery yield and resolves in a single pass the chiral tubes of (6,5) well from commercial SWCNT starting materials by Chromatography. Improvement and scale up of the targeted resin production will facilitate the separation of chiral nanotubes for the academic ...

X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy is a widely used and extremely sensitive analytical technique for qualitative as well as quantitative chemical analysis. Superconducting Transition Edge Sensor (TES) microcalorimeter detectors have now been developed that achieve an energy resolution of 2 eV (full width at half maximum) for 1.5 keV X-rays, which is sufficient to enable the measurement of the small s ...

Ammonia gas that is emitted from agriculture can create health problems for workers and, surprisingly, for people far from the agricultural operation. Once released into the air, the ammonia undergoes a series of chemical reactions that lead to small particles (known as PM2.5) that are inhaled deep into people's lungs. Those particles can trigger asthma and are linked to increased risk of hea ...

Center pivot irrigation systems are widespread across the Nation's critically water short regions. A common bias for irrigators is to give crops more water than is actually needed in order to cover uncertainties and ensure enough water is present. This practice leads to profound waste of water and energy. Providing just what the crop needs is the means to achieve profound conservation that ca ...

There continues to be a need for production of biofuels from agricultural sources. Butanol is a more attractive fuel than ethanol because it leads to better gas mileage, it achieves higher blends with gasoline than bioethanol, it has greater compatibility with existing fuel infrastructure, it is less volatile, it is more amenable to transport via pipeline due to low water absorption, there is no n ...

The membrane drying process for ethanol plants should be of great value in increasing capacity and/or reducing energy consumption for existing ethanol plants. We will manufacture modules of the novel membrane with a commercial partner. A pilot demonstration unit will be constructed and deployed at an actual ethanol plant for demonstrating the membrane process capabilities and advantages.

This program will provide low cost routes for biosynthesis of these and many other organics. Using biomass for production of fuels and chemical provides for a domestic, renewable and green route to address our fuel and chemical needs. This program provides a simple and inexpensive route for generating these domestic and renewable products

Improved production yield is a constant objective of increasingly sophisticated agricultural practices. As Earth's population grows, higher yield is a critical mechanism for insuring adequate food supply. An effective way to increase yield is by reducing waste. Crops begin to ripen when encountering ethylene at low levels and sustain the ripening process by self-generation of ethylene. Because eth ...

PREDICTING THE RATE OF SOIL WATER MOVEMENT AND THE IMPACT OFAGRI-CHEMICALS ON WATER RESOURCES IS VITALLY IMPORTANT TO MANAGING AGRICULTURE, FOR OPTIMIZING PRODUCTIVITY AND MINIMIZING ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT. SOPHISTICATED MODELS FOR MAKING SUCH PREDICTIONS ARE AVAILABLE, BUT DATA ON SOIL HYDRAULIC PROPERTIES ARE DIFFICULT AND OFTEN EXPENSIVE TO OBTAIN. IN FACT, AT DEPTHS BELOW THE ROOT ZONE THERE IS ...

MRC PROPOSES TO DEVELOP A SAFETY PERFORMANCE INDICATOR (PI) OF THE ELECTROMAGNETIC (EM) PROTECTION STATUS OF A NUCLEAR POWER PLANT (NPP). WE BELIEVE THAT SUCH A PI IS NEEDED BECAUSE: (1) EM ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION IS ON THE INCREASE,(2) ADDITIONAL EM THREATS MUST BE EVALUATED, AND (3) DISRUPTION OF NPP OPERATIONS BY EM EFFECTS CAN AND MUST BE AVOIDED. PREVIOUS STUDIES HAVE ADDRESSED THE ISSUE OF E ...