Award Data

The use of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect contaminants such as solvents, fuels, and pesticides in soil and water samples is now well established. Although ELISA and related methods can facilitate analysis of samples, several washing and separation steps are involved that require 30 to 120 minutes per sample to reach equilibrium. Recently, near infrared fluorescence immunoassa ...

Prospective technologies for stationary post-combustion NOx control include: Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction (SNCR) and Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR). These processes reduce NOx by non-catalytic or catalytic reactions with N-Agents (ammonia or urea). There are several problems with SCR, such as high capital cost, limited catalyst life, catalyst poisoning, and disposal. SNCR is less expe ...

Approximately 9 billion kilograms of plastic are used to produce durable goods each year in the United States, but only 2% of this plastic is recycled today. A major obstacle to recycling plastics from durable goods is that the densities of different plastics are often very similar, requiring a highly accurate sorting technique based on differences in specific gravity. There are many techniques ...

U.S. industry generates large volumes of wastewater that contain suspended particulates, emulsified liquids, dissolved macromolecules, or dissolved organic compounds. Nanofiltration or ultrafiltration can produce dischargeable water from these streams. However, because current nanofiltration and ultrafiltration membranes are finely porous and only moderately hydrophilic, they are subject to foulin ...

Oxygen-oxidation processes are used to produce a number of important chemicals, including ethylene oxide, propylene oxide, terephthalic acid, and vinyl chloride. Approximately 450 million lbs/yr of the hydrocarbon feedstocks used in these processes are lost as part of an inert gas purge stream from the reactor. Currently, this gas is flared, which results in a loss of valuable chemicals and an in ...

All polyethylene and polypropylene polymerization plants use a purge to remove paraffins entering the reactor with the olefin monomer. Loss of monomer with this purge represents 1-2% of the total monomer consumption of the plant and most of the plant¿s volatile organic compound emissions. The recovery value of the monomer is about $1 million/year for a typical plant. This research project prop ...

Currently, there are two ways of obtaining chemical analyses for field sites. The first method requires samples to be taken, marked, sent to a lab, and analyzed. This method is labor-intensive, and there often is a significant lag time between taking the sample to receiving the test results. The second method, placing a remote automatic analysis device in the field, avoids these problems; howev ...

Ester-based synthetic lubricants are used in a variety of applications ranging from low- end, two-stroke oils in chain saws and automotive crankcase oils to high-end, high- performance oils in jet turbines and heavy duty truck transmissions. These materials offer a number of advantages over mineral (petroleum)-based oils, including excellent low temperature fluidity, very high viscosity index, an ...

Throughout the United States and around the world, a variety of industries are moving from conventional to high flash solvents, including dibasic and other esters, glycol ethers, and terpenes (d-limonene isomers). For instance, approximately 80% of the cleaning solvents used in the screen printing industry, representing more than $50 million per year in solvent sales, are high flash solvents. Al ...

A one-step filtration process has been proposed for the removal of turbidity, microorganisms, and THMFP for small drinking water treatment facilities. The essence of the proposed technology is the use of a low cost/high performance ceramic membrane to accomplish the above filtration objectives economically and reliably. Thus, disinfection of drinking water can be accomplished with no chemical ad ...