Award Data

This Phase II SBIR focuses on the application of Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) processing to the growth and extraction of microalgae and algal products. PEF processing uses short, high voltage electrical pulses to break cellular membranes (also referred to as electroporation or cell lysing). PEF has been applied across a range of applications, from non-thermal pasteurization of juices to wastewater ...

Former USDA secretary, Tom Vilsack, has urged the Forest Service to "develop new markets" for forest by-products that encourage healthy timber management WholeTrees® Architecture and Structures, LLC (WT) creates value from an abundant, near-waste byproduct of well-managed forests: small-diameter round timber (SDRT). WT uses debarked, un-milled whole timbers and proprietary steel connections as a ...

Phosphorus which is a limited resource and an essential plant nutrient is commonly applied to agricultural land to promote plant growth. NRU is commercializing a technology to recover phosphorus from municipal wastewater in the form of an agriculturally valuable mineral called brushite. This technology addresses the need to recycle phosphorus from the waste stream in order to prevent technical pro ...

The DSOM system realized in a Phase II effort will provide a modular, compact and reconfigurable system with the ability to provide unique and new information about the scene of interest (e.g. temporal and height information) when compared with traditional SAR sensors. When compared with other imaging technologies, DSOM has the important advantages of being operable through cloud cover and at nigh ...

This project continues our development of innovative systems for farming macroalgae on the high seas. We will identify suitable sites in Nantucket Sound to demonstrate our system and determine the associated environmental parameters including depths, currents, and waves. By combining that information with load and acceleration data from our Phase I wave-basin tests, we will refine the structural d ...

R3 Digital Sciences (R3-DS) will develop and commercialize the Fish Trap Extension Kit (FTEK), and electromechanical device that will extend the capabilities of existing fish traps, and convert them from indiscriminate traps into “smart traps” capable of targeting specific fish types. To eliminate lionfish bycatch, the FTEK will enable existing commercial spiny lobster traps to autonomously de ...

This program is aimed at the development of a deployable sensor for direct measurement of carbonate ions in saline waters with a sensitivity of 5 μM. The sensor combines the selectivity of carbonate ionophore with the unique structure of a carbon nanotube array to achieve a large dynamic range, high specificity and sensitivity. Phase I was focused on demonstrating the proof-of-principle concept f ...

The use of recycled water has never been more important than it is today, especially with California and the Western United States experiencing the worst drought in 500 years.To address the severe and persistent shortage of water,growers in California are increasingly looking to recycled water as a way to consistently meet their irrigation demands. The main challenge for water reuse in agriculture ...

In recent years, consumer's concerns over hen well-being in conventional small wire cages (called battery cages) has resulted in some of the poultry farms to switch to cage-free housing where hens have freedom to walk around spread their wings, and lay their eggs in real nest boxes. This push towards cage-free egg production was further magnified in 2015 when many of the large fast food, resta ...

For centuries, pipes have been manufactured in short (20-30 ft long) segments and trucked to the jobsite where they are assembled to create a long pipeline. This technique is inefficient as the pipes tend to leak at the joints and there is significant cost associated with delivering voluminous pipe segments. Furthermore, pipes made with steel or concrete corrode and have a short service life.The g ...