Award Data

Ethylene is a growth hormone for fruits and vegetables that is generated by the plants themselves; that is, it acts as a self-ripening agent. Hence, the removal of ethylene gas can play a central role in maintaining the freshness of these products. Whereas the temperature and the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide gases are also important system variables that demand a significant economic invest ...

The conversion of corn and other biomass to fuel grade ethanol not only would reduce U.S. dependence on foreign energy sources but also would be a major industrial application for agricultural products. However, the process of drying the ethanol to fuel grade consumes significant amounts of energy, incurring costs that continue to increase as cost of natural gas increases. This project will deve ...

The need for natural gas continues to grow, and recent increases in petroleum prices have been paralleled by large increases in the price of natural gas. However, natural gas at the source often has high concentrations of carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide, which must be removed. Although existing commercial polymeric membranes (e.g. cellulose acetate and polysulfone) do a good job of sweetenin ...

New engine diesel pollution is addressed in the EPA Clean Diesel Truck/Bus and low sulfur diesel rule and non-road diesel rule. Unfortunately, slow fleet turnover with extend full implementation. EPA is interested in both retrofit technologies that reduce emissions (particulate matter, volatile organic pollutants, NOx) from diesel sources and also interested in new bio-diesel implementation tech ...

A. Water must be removed from biodegradable hydraulic fluids as they react with water and degrade insitu. B. Biodegradable hydraulic fluids for farm equipment provide a significant improvement over traditional petroleum based fluids due to decreased pollution. Increase the use and value of biodegradable hydraulic fluids by development of a membrane-based dewatering system.

The use of biodiesel offers significant advantages with regards to the reduction of total harmful engine emissions with the exception of NOx. Biodiesel is a renewable resource and soybean oil is known to be economically viable as a biodiesel fuel. Recent studies from the Environmental Protection Agency have shown that soybean oil alone or blended with #2 diesel fuel results in a significant decrea ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Most pharmaceutical synthesis involve condensation or dehydration reactions at some point in the process that generates water as a by-product. This water must be removed since (1) water is often not a desirable component of the finished product, (2) water limits conversion to final product, and (3) water generated slows the reaction rate. Many Pharmaceuticals h ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Historically blood oxygenator technology either for short-term by-pass surgery or recently developed long-term strategies has been mass transfer limited by liquid side mass transfer fluid dynamics. Recent active mixing designs have led to systems which remove liquid side fluid limitations and have oxygen and carbon dioxide transport limited by membrane transpo ...

In the electrical power, steel production, and aluminum production industries, flame retardant, phosphate-ester hydraulic fluids are used to minimize fires. Although these fluids accomplish the fire-minimization task, they are unstable, which causes performance to suffer with attendant losses in productivity. This project will develop novel, chemically-resistant high-flux membranes that can remo ...

Distillation is a major chemical unit operation and consumer of significant energy. Often, water or another intermediate boiling component can become trapped within the distillation column and accumulate. This causes various operating difficulties such as flooding, slugging, cycling, instability, and an off-spec product. This project will develop a chemically resistant, non-porous water-venting ...