Award Data

Methane (CH4) is the second most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide (CO2). Human activity related radiative forcing by methane accounts for about half of that caused by CO2. In the U.S., the largest industrial source of CH4 is oil and gas systems. Fugitive sources are often identified as potentially large sources of CH4 emissions; however, multiple measurement challenges inhibit more co ...

VISIMO’s ML Toolkit for Grey Literature Screening will reduce bias in, and improve accuracy of, systematic reviews (SRs) for chemical risk assessment. Grey literature is notoriously difficult to screen and tag, and despite its importance, researchers often exclude grey literature from their SRs due to necessity. VISIMO’s Toolkit will enable researchers to filter full documents of all types and ...

NDT of Fracture Toughness for Pipeline Steels3/16/2018Ultrasound-based technology to nondestructively determine fracture toughness of pipeline steels will be developed. Fracture toughness is the material parameter that, along with applied loading and flaw geometry, dictates the critical crack size, and therefore controls the flaw size that must be detected during inspections. A major challenge fac ...

Tragically, 936 children have died in hot cars since 1998. Wisely, NHTSA has prioritized evaluation of sensor systems in vehicles for “the ability to detect unattended children and prevent heat stroke occurrence.”Recently, innovators have developed systems that detect children present in the vehicle by measuring carbon dioxide (CO2) in the vehicle cabin, but there is no test method to assess w ...

This SBIR effort proposes using live and continuous monitoring of metal tanks, pressure vessels, and pipelines using carbon nanomaterial-based sensing skins to detect excessive physical strains, cracks, and to inspect impact damage. The proposed research and development work leverages 15+ years of fundamental research. The key objective is to advance the TRL level and the scalability of carbon nan ...

In response to the DOT’s FY21 SBIR topic 21-FT2, Interphase Materials (IPM) proposes the development of a low-cost automated data collection system that uses machine learning (ML), a type of artificial intelligence (AI), to predict and alert transit agencies of biological and viral contamination risks making condition-based sanitization possible for more effective and efficient operations.The CO ...

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has exposed weaknesses in society’s ability to rapidly respond to a global public health problem. SARS-CoV-2 and variants are highly contagious and can cause mild to extremely severe disease and death. It is believed that the main route for transmission is aerosol droplets naturally discharged from an infected person. XCMR is developing breakthrough res ...

This project will develop an engineered soil product and process that repurpose waste-stream glass into soil suitable for horticultural and green infrastructure projects. The project supports the EPA's goal to improve sustainable materials management. Recycling of solid waste materials, like glass, remains challenging to cities due to costs of recycling in comparison to landfill disposal. Process ...

Approximately 25% of all anthropogenic generated methane comes from the oil and gas industry, and it is estimated that ~6% of those emissions are from storage tanks used in the production phase. Methane has a shorter lifetime in the atmosphere but has a significantly greater warming potential than carbon dioxide on short time scales. The emissions from these storage tanks are not well known, and n ...

Nanoplastics (plastic debris