Award Data

Many refinery product streams, particularly those from Ultra Low Hydrodesulfurisation units, are prone to haze due to water emulsions. Haze is also problematic for biodiesel production, as hazy fuel cannot be used until the haze settles or is removed, which creates costly scheduling and shipping delays. This project will develop a novel membrane process for the removal of dissolved and dispersed ...

Compared with conventional processes used to produce many oxygenated chemicals, processes based on the selective catalytic oxidation of alkanes to produce oxygenates could yield enormous economic, energy, and environmental benefits. However, commercial development of such processes has been hindered, in part, because the excessive heat released by alkane oxidation causes over-oxidation (burning) ...

The objective of this project is to design and build a seismometer that combines the essential features of a traditional pure analog seismometer, which outputs a voltage signal, with a traditional digitizer, which samples that voltage signal and provides digital word output. The design does not just physically integrate a seismometer with a digitizer. Instead, the design employs a new approach a ...

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 ...

One of the major factors that inhibits rapid throughput, and hence increases the cost, of coated conductors is the moderate deposition rate of high temperature superconducting films. Thus far, the approach has been to increase the deposition area using moderately rapid deposition techniques. By developing the industrial methods of ultra-fast deposition to produce coated conductors, the overall pro ...

It is likely that next generation electron sources for future accelerators will initially utilize a direct current gun based injector with a semiconductor photocathode for electron production. The goal of this project is to create a recipe or series of recipes that will immunize a photocathode against the background gasses likely to be found under operation in a generic RF gun, thus reducing or e ...

The recovery of heat currently wasted in exhaust gases can reduce fuel consumption in almost every commercial and industrial sector. In the electricity generation sector alone, even modest improvements in energy recovery effectiveness would result in billions of dollars in savings annually. New materials made from conductive graphite have created a significant opportunity to produce heat exchang ...

Coal is used to generate more than half of the electricity in the United States. However, coal has a range of mercury-related environmental disadvantages: (1) emissions of mercury via the flue gas, and (2) environmental releases of mercury during subsequent processing and disposal of byproducts. This project will address both concerns through the use of chemical additives in the power plant¿ ...

The Cell BE processor represents a technology trend towards the convergence of the Central Processing Unit (CPU) and the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). By creating an open source OpenGL driver for the Cell BE processor, this project will allow the Cell BE processor to be used for visualization and graphics rendering. This is a boon to the scientific and research community that is currently usin ...

The TEXAS Model for Intersection Traffic is a high-quality single-intersection microscopic traffic simulation model developed at The University of Texas at Austin. It analyzes in sub microscopic detail the behavior of driver-vehicle units as they go through an intersection and intermix with other traffic flows. It has detailed intersection geometry, path following, microscopic car following, lan ...