Award Data

The proposed device is a compact, portable, and robust battery-powered analytical instrument for monitoring of ultra-low concentrations of various VOCs in complex backgrounds. Our technology is based on principles of analytical gas chromatography (GC), utilizes scrubbed ambient air as carrier gas and a novel highly integrated multisensory platform as a detector. Due to the implementation of a mult ...

Concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) is a designation by the U.S. EPA to represent large animal feeding operation with more than 1000 animal units confined on site for more than 45 days during the year. CAFOs emit many volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the atmosphere. Current multi-gas sensor technologies are not sufficiently portable and are utilized either offline in a lab-setting o ...

Taskforces, utilities, and manufacturers must adapt to contaminants of emerging concern. The most prevalent, persistent, and problematic of these pertinent pollutants are per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Resource managers need reliable and resilient technologies that convert waste streams to value streams and satisfy regulations. Current state of practice for management of PFAS-laden so ...

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have emerged as a pervasive and persistent threat to drinking water throughout the world. Called ‘forever chemicals” because their high stability leads PFAS to build up in the environment. PFAS accumulates in the blood from exposures and is associated with various cancers and other illnesses. There is an urgent need for a technology that can both remo ...

Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been used extensively since the 1940s due to their chemical stability and unique thermophysical properties. Those same properties make PFAS extremely recalcitrant environmental pollutants, and bioaccumulative toxins. Regulations are rapidly being established by U.S. states, including Michigan, New Hampshire, and New Jersey, beholding municipal water u ...

The current COVID-19 pandemic has evidenced the pressing and substantial need for sustainable and more effective solutions to prevent the transmission and spreading of pathogens of public health concern, including the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. High-touch surfaces in high traffic areas represent a particular public health challenge. Cost effective disinfectant coatings with long-term e ...

Mass transit ridership in every major metropolitan city has precipitously dropped due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A wide range of technologies are needed to bring the SARS-CoV-2 virus under control and prevent future viral outbreaks. Infectious quantities of viruses can survive on contaminated surfaces for days requiring continuous cleaning to ensure clean, virus free surfaces. The objective of this ...

This project will trial thermochemical techniques to recycle construction and demolition debris wood (C&D) into a low-greenhouse gas transportation fuel, while safely sequestering arsenic from C&D contaminants such as copper chromated arsenate (CCA) treated lumber. The amount of C&D wood waste going to landfill each year is not trivial. According to the EPA's latest Sustainable Materials Manageme ...

Current reliance on petroplastics is unsustainable. Efforts to replace ubiquitous petroplastics polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) with bioplastics is currently hindered by cost. Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) is a biodegradable polymer with properties suited to replace PP and PE. Unlike many bioplastics, PHB does not require industrial composting; rather, PHB degrades into water and trace amount ...

The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking proposals that will improve the U.S. recycling system.PKS Consulting is an Alaska-based small technology firm that proposes the development of a Mobile Plastic Ocean Waste (POW) Recycler that can be moved from community to community to produce Recycled Plastic Lumber (RPL) products from locally collected POW. Fishing gear is primarily composed of Poly ...