Award Data

Quantifying oceanic CO2 uptake and ocean acidification and understanding their impact on global climate and ocean ecology are key goals of NOAA’s climate change research programs. NOAA’s request for Development of a long-term Lagrangian pH and pCO2 drifter (SBIR Subtopic 8.3.1C) aims to address these goals by developing technology that measures both pCO2 and pH that can be widely deployed in t ...

In the proposed effort, we will leverage this extensive experience and capabilities to realize a frequency agile mmW radiometer that can cover the range of DC-110 GHz and can be scaled to DC-200 GHz under Phase II. Ours is a photonic system that multiplies and up-coverts a low-frequency reference signal onto an optical carrier (laser) using EO modulation, then uses the modulation sidebands to inj ...

Concerns over the escalating use of petroleum-based liquid fuels include climate change, trade imbalances, global security issues, and environmental harm resulting from petroleum extraction and processing. Although ethanol is the leading replacement for petroleum-based gasoline, the current corn-based source of ethanol is hindered by serious social and environmental issues. The production of cel ...

This SBIR Phase I effort will establish the feasibility of fabricating advanced waveguide structures in potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP) capable of efficiently generating 25 to 40 mW of frequency converted light in the 395 to 480 nm. The key innovation in this effort is to utilize KTP waveguides in a single-pass frequency doubling device to efficiently produce the desired laser wavelengths and po ...

This NIST Phase II SBIR effort will two low noise single photon detectors using MgO doped LiNbO3 (LN) periodically poled waveguides and a 980nm (or similar appropriate wavelength) pump to up convert 1550nm photons to 600nm to allow for detection by photomultiplier tube (PMT). The key innovation is using low noise periodically poled waveguides with a long wavelength (1800nm) pump leading to higher ...

Several hundred beam lines are used around the world at today¿s third-generation synchrotron facilities. These facilities must deal with monochromator-based performance problems due to high heat load. Many have resorted to the use of costly, complicated, high maintenance cryogenic cooling of silicon crystals. Single crystal diamond monochromators present an advantage over the silicon crystals ...

Membrane reactors have the potential to improve reactivity and productivity of various chemical syntheses including enzymatic water sensitive reactions. To be of value, higher use temperature, improved chemical resistance and better mass transfer systems are desired. Using membrane systems with improved mass transfer, Compact Membrane Systems will evaluate enhancing enzyme reactivity. Working w ...

Higher gas transport membranes would enhance membrane separations, especially those associated with energy savings (e.g., oxygen or nitrogen enriched air). In these systems, gas transport is inversely proportional to the thickness of the membrane¿s active layer. This project will explore a novel route for preparing ultrathin (100-1000 angstroms) membranes with very high selectivity. First, memb ...

Biomass fast pyrolysis fuel (BioOil) is a liquid fuel made from wood chips and the low-grade wood byproducts of timber harvesting. However, when BioOil is stored, its chemicals polymerize, aided by the oxygen present in the BioOil. As a consequence, the viscosity of the BioOil increases over time, and, under extreme conditions, it can become a solid. In addition, the presence of water results i ...

Natural gas offers cost and environmental benefits over other conventional energy sources and decreases our dependence on oil imports. However, many sources of natural gas also contain large amounts of non-hydrocarbon gases, which make them uneconomical to market. Removal of these non-hydrocarbon impurities, in order to raise low quality raw gas to pipeline quality, could have significant econom ...