Award Data

"Technologies that prevent Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission from natural and man-made sources are needed to address the environmental and human health implications of climate change. One approach is to capture the GHG emissions and secure them in long term storage, i.e., carbon sequestration. However, current carbon sequestration technologies may: A) produce undesirable by products; B) contamina ...

"The increasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and nitrous oxides has been linked to climate change, which has a myriad of environmental and human health implications. In response to this growing concern, FuelCell Energy (FCE) has developed novel system concepts for separation of Carbon dioxide from greenhouse gas (GHG) emission sources, using Direct FuelCell® (DFC®) technology. ...

"The environmental Protection Agency is soliciting innovations for the development of small unit drinking water systems that will inactivate contaminants including pesticides, organic pollutants, pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and pathogens. In the US, 85% of all public water systems serve fewer than 3,300 people, thus these water systems are considered small. For providing these small ...

"OPTRA proposes a Fourier transform phase shift cavity ring down spectroscopy (FT-PS-CRDS) system for high sensitivity detection of air toxic compounds. Our system operates in the 400-4000 cm-1 spectral range wherein lie vapor phase resonance bands for most air toxic compounds and hazardous chemicals; the spectral resolution is 4-16 cm-1, depending on the discrimination requirements. Our approac ...

"Nitrate (NO3) in surface water runoff from agriculture activities is a serious environmental problem. Nitrate levels in United States waterways have increased dramatically in the past half-century, two0fold in the Mississippi River since 1965 and as much as ten-fold in the northeast since 1990. This widespread nitrate contamination has led to significant environmental consequences. In particul ...

As the number of mobile source emissions in the United States increases, it is necessary to further reduce the emission of CO, NOx, and hydrocarbons from such sources to provide safe air quality, especially in urban environments. Significant reductions in pollution emissions can be achieved using advanced engine controls based on real-time measurements of CO, NOx, and hydrocarbon concentrations i ...

A number of very high-volume liquid chemicals form azeotropes with water and can be dehydrated to required purity levels only through the use of entrainers or drying agents. The handling and disposal of these additional chemicals present significant environmental risks. Recently, membrane pervaporation using both polymeric and inorganic membrane modules has been commercialized as a method to deh ...

Combined sewage outflows (CSOs) are a major contributor to water pollution in the United States. The impact of peak stormwater loads on sewage treatment plants leads to the discharge of significant amounts (1.26 billion gallons) of untreated sewage each year. The bacterial load represented by this discharge directly contributed to more than 2,200 beach closings in the year 2000, numerous closing ...

Copper compounds have been used for centuries in marine antifoulants to inhibit biofouling. This anthropogenic copper is a potential problem in confined basins and in regions that experience limited mixing. In this research project, E Paint Company will explore the feasibility of developing novel self-polishing coatings that exploit natural methods of biofouling control to produce effective and ...

There has been an alarming increase in toxic cyanobacteria during the past 2 decades, with numerous poisonings reported from Australia to the United States. The increased toxic risks led the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to include cyanotoxins on the 1998 Contaminant Candidate List. However, most cyanobacterial blooms are not toxic. Further, bloom toxicity will change over time. T ...