Award Data

In addressing Topic 1C in this solicitation, “Innovative pretreatment technologies for PFAS in industrial wastewater”, this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop a novel nanofiber mats fabricated by electrospun polymer nanofibers for the “smart” (selective) removal of perand polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from landfill leachate. The co-contaminants, low ...

Fumed silica is an important additive in many products, including paints, plastics and tires, and is a $1.5 billion market with a 6 percent growth rate. However, fumed silica producers rely on an energy- intensive, costly and hazardous process. The air pollution resulting from the energy utilized to produce fumed silica is a combination of carbon emissions from the production of raw materials, ene ...

Measuring individual exposure in real-time can revolutionize air quality monitoring in communities everywhere. Such information would allow citizens to take preventive measures to reduce their exposures to air toxics, which would impact their health and quality of life tremendously. Mobile devices such as smart-phones and tablets represent a powerful infrastructure that could be leveraged to devel ...

CeraTech, Inc., proposes the development of novel (patent pending) phosphate-based concrete for fresh water and wastewater pipeline. The materials being investigated utilize a very high percentage of residual materials (coal ash, municipal solid waste ash, bio-solids ash, etc., up to 80 wt%). The concrete exhibits zero shrinkage as well as extremely high bondability to both concrete and reinforc ...

"As part of its mission to protect human health and the environment, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is dedicated to developing and promoting innovative cleanup strategies that restore contaminated sites to productive use, reduce associated costs, and promote environmental stewardship. However, in adopting this strategy there will be an increasing need to implement a more cost effective, ...

"Operational Technology Corporation (OpTech) proposes to couple the ultrasensitivity of fluorescence-based detection with the high selectivity of synthetic DNA aptamers as replacements for antibodies to detect chemical and biological (CB) terrorism threats in 10 minutes or less from a variety of swabbed surfaces and liquid matrices. OpTech has previously provided strong proof-of-concept for a rap ...

"This SBIR Phase I project will develop an affordable, sensitive, fast-response solution to real-time monitoring of Elemental Carbon (EC). EcoChem will employ a proven sensor technology, the photoemission aerosol sensor (PAS) to detect EC. The PAS photoionizes carbonaceous aerosols with a unique excimer lamp [Burtscher, 1992] whose wavelength is chosen to selectively ionize EX and polycyclic aro ...

This SBIR project addresses the problem of waste and low manufacturing yield in the typical thin film manufacturing process. It has the potential to make a significant impact on energy utilization and become a critical component to making thin film processes cost effective, leading to waste-free manufacturing. Thin film deposition processes are extensively used in man-critical industries with sign ...

Distributed energy offers a means of providing reliable, cost-effective electrical power to residents of rural communities. These requirements often cannot be met by current distribution methods due to limitation of remote central station power generation and transmission. With the migration of population from urban areas to rural areas and the increased power demands placed on electrical grids fr ...

There is a finite amount of fossil fuels, which will only last a few more decades. Therefore, it is imperative to develop renewable sources of energy. An area that has recently attracted a lot of attention is the conversion of renewable oils to biodiesel, primarily through the methanolysis of triglycerides. The use of an immobilized lipase as a heterogeneous biocatalyst to transform oils into biod ...