Award Data

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This project involves the development of a first-of-its-kind method for fractionation and recovery of industrial viable plant polyphenol material from spent tanning liquor (a.k.a. used color bath), a waste byproduct from the vegetable tanning and chrome retanning industry. Using a newly developed proprietary process currently being submitted for a provisional patent, a pilot facility will be built ...

This project proposes the development of industrial agri-based oil monomers for the preparation of low odor, low VOC architectural latex coatings. The process for preparing acrylate and/or methacrylate monomers derived from castor oil and other industrial oils, such as soybean and linseed oils, involves an acrylate derivatization step. Monomers based on castor oil have been incorporated into latex ...

Situation or Problem In order to provide timely and reliable assessments of the global crop market, it is necessary to move from limited, in situ crop assessments to operational crop monitoring on regional and global scales with multi-temporal remotely sensed (RS) data. Due to timeliness requirements and large volumes of imagery needed for operational agricultural monitoring, it is important that ...

Laser Technology Inc. (LTI) proposes a Phase II SBIR research project to further develop a Compact Shearography System, Analysis Method and Software for micro-crack detection in concrete. There is an urgent need to detect and characterize fine cracks in concrete that form because of various damage mechanisms including alkali-silicate reaction, delayed ettringite formation or frost damage. Fine s ...

The U.S. forest products industry had sales of $262B in 1997, of which two thirds was used for building construction. The use of wood for home construction is an effective, efficient, environmentally friendly, renewable construction material. A key issue in using wood materials in construction is their susceptibility to mold, fungi, and termite infestation resulting in over $10B combined damage pe ...

Development of the basic EMAT based transverse rail defect detector has progressed toward finished form, as envisioned in the original solicitation. This modification is intended to produce a demonstratable version of a 2-rail detection system with automated signal interpertation. The objectives of this work are to: a. Further develop the system into a functioning 2-rail detection system, as ori ...

Individual differences in vulnerability to sleep loss and fatigue from extended work hours and night work are a substantial problem in transportation policy making, work schedule development, fatigue risk management strategies, and prediction of performance impairment in real-world operations (Van Dongen et al. 2003; Mollicone et al. 2010). Our group was the first to document the considerable magn ...

The Urban Forestry Modeling and Prioritization Tools project addresses the research and tasks necessary for creating cost effective, web-based software that assists urban foresters with strategically selecting planting locations in order to maximize impact on both the environment and local communities. Studies by the US Forest Service and other groups demonstrate the many environmental, health, ae ...

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 ...