Award Data

The objective of this project is to develop a multi-purpose combination type optical fiber sensor that enables simultaneous sensing of microstructural evolutions in the sensor materials and the environmental conditions such as pressure and temperature. It is very well known that materials subjected to fatigue and high temperature will go through microstructural changes such as plastic deformation, ...

Object identification, quantification and localization are key goals in both military target detection and quantitative medical imaging. As in medical imaging, military images are often difficult to interpret due to noise, spatial resolution limits, changing background conditions and uncertainty about the materials being imaged. We propose to vastly improve the results from hyperspectral imaging s ...

Carbon nanotube-reinforced ceramics are a promising class of materials that are plagued by extreme processing conditions which compromise the nanotubes, thereby inhibiting their ability to positively impact the ceramic composite. Applied Sciences, Inc. (ASI) proposes an innovative solution to this problem. Our process exploits the unique morphology of low-cost carbon nanofibers, upon which the ce ...

Intellectual Merit: This STTR project will develop novel engineered Clostridia strains for fermentation to economically produce butanol as a biofuel from sugars derived from starchy and lignocellulosic biomass. Butanol is an important industrial solvent and potentially a better transportation fuel than ethanol. Recent rising oil prices and limited petroleum resources have generated high interest i ...

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I research project will develop a gas-solid spouted bed bioreactor (SBB) for solid state fermentations (SSF) to produce hydrolytic enzymes (e.g., amylases, phytase, chitinase) and biochemicals (e.g., lactic acid) from solid starch materials. SSF offers higher production rates and easier product recovery compared to submerged fermentation (SmF), ...

Significant recent research has shown that breath biomarkers are excellent indicators of oxidative stress caused by conditions ranging from radiation exposure to COPD. Current techniques for collection, concentration, and analysis of exhaled breath do not support real-time analysis, or require complex and bulky equipment. Streamline Automation, LLC will develop a portable Breath BioDetector in p ...

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project presents a new, non-contact method for sorting particles by size. The primary objective of Phase I activities is to evaluate the technical and commercial feasibility of a particle sorter based upon Aerodynamic Vectoring. This objective will be accomplished in an air jet facility through high-speed imaging and optical particle tracking, ...

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project aims to apply the unique property of high-speed jets to adhere to nearby curved surfaces, with a turning radius much larger than the size of the jet - the so-called COANDA effect. The proposed research aims to take advantage of this effect to manipulate thermal spray jet stream and vector the stream such that the hot thermal gas stream ...

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project demonstrates a flexible fuel reformer (FFR) that employs unique mechanical construction and operation to enable extended catalyst life in the presence of sulfur-containing heavy fuels. The FFR utilizes a low-cost heat exchanger that is constructed from metal foil and coated with a dual-function sulfur-tolerant catalyst. Combustion and ...

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project will investigate the technical and commercial feasibility of coating metal foils with a solid sorbent so that they act as a desulfurizing component for pre-treatment of sulfur-laden liquid fuels. The coated foils will be inserted into a small heat exchanger that acts as a platform unit for conversion of liquid fuels to hydrogen for fue ...