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 ...

78204SThe 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 from a 95% ethanol-5% water mixture (the azeotrope) to fuel grade ethanol consumes significant amounts of energy, incurring costs that continue to ...

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 ...

78749S Distillation is a very valuable chemical engineering unit operation, but it is both energy and capital intensive. This is especially true when components either form azeotropes or have small relative volatility differences. A hybrid, robust membrane process could eliminate azeotropes and process pinch points. Therefore, this project will develop chemically and thermally stable high flux ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Long-term blood oxygenator (BO) therapy requires non-porous coatings to limit BO wet out. Compact Membrane Systems (CMS) has identified novel materials that can minimize wet out while simultaneously maintaining need

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Dental Unit Waterlines have come under increasing scrutiny as residents of biofilms which harbor and release bacteria and in some instances harmful pathogens. As a result ADA has pro actively recommended that the water delivered by dental equipment have 3 mg per liter) can remove all of the planktonic bacteria and reduce biofilm levels by 99.99%. This suggerts ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Dental Unit Waterlines have come under increasing scrutiny as residents of biofilms which harbor and release bacteria and in some instances harmful pathogens. As a result ADA has pro actively recommended that the water delivered by dental equipment have 3 mg per liter) can remove all of the planktonic bacteria and reduce biofilm levels by 99.99%. This suggerts ...

The Bush Administration recently proposed a 90 percent reduction of air pollution emissions from off-road diesel equipment. The Administration indicated that diesel emissions are responsible for large amounts of particulate and NOx emissions from off-road construction, farm, mining, and locomotive and marine engines. A primary approach used to reduce NOx emissions is exhaust gas recirculation (E ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Freeze-drying is commonly employed to concentrate temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals. Freeze-drying is expensive and causes product degradation. Osmotic distillation (OD) is a candidate for gentler and lower-cost concentration but has not been commercially developed because microporous membranes fail due to wet-out. In Phase I, Compact Membrane Systems (C ...

This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I project will develop novel chemically and thermally stable, highly fluorinated mixed matrix polymeric membranes with high selectivity. The program's objective is to apply enhanced membrane separation as an alternative to distillation separations that deal with high temperature and aggressive chemicals. Distillation is a major separation process in th ...