Active Spectrum, Inc. (Active Spectrum), Fuss & O’Neill and Ion Signature Technology, Inc. (Ion Signature) will receive a total of $210,000 grant from EPA for the research and development (R&D) of green technology from the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. Active Spectrum will receive $69,807 to develop its proposed sensor for monitoring of particulate emissions in diesel exhaust gases.
Active Spectrum will develop new, low-cost soot sensors for on-board measurement of soot emissions in diesel exhaust gases. The proposed technology is differentiated from existing methods because of its exceptional sensitivity, high specificity to carbon particulates, and strength against deterioration by accumulated soot. Potential commercial applications of the real-time sensor include diesel emissions reductions by the control of the engine timing in response to sensor readings. Having active control of the engine timing to reduce soot will create a new or additional technique to meet emissions standards for particulate matter beyond conventional approaches using diesel particulates filters. Industrial applications include real-time monitoring of particulate emissions from boilers, power plants, and marine diesel engines.
Fuss & O’Neill will receive $70,000 for the development of electricity generation from anaerobic wastewater treatment in microbial fuel fells. New research with Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) technology has demonstrated an ability to extract chemical energy contained in wastewater and convert it to electrical power. Chemical energy extracted from wastewater carbohydrates has the potential, in theory, to convert wastewater treatment plants from huge power users to sources of electrical power. This effort is proposed to bring to market MFC technology which could have a radically positive effect on a huge energy-consuming industry in the US It also achieves three of EPA’s goals for wastewater facilities: reducing energy requirements, better managing energy use, and the cost-effective production and recover of green power. This technology has the potential to generate sufficient power to operate a host treatment facility without adding or requiring additional energy – in short, it would have the potential to achieve environmental goals in an energy self-sufficient manner.
Ion Signature will receive $69,989 for the development of an In Situ thermal extraction detection system (TEDS) for rapid, accurate, quantitative analysis of environmental pollutants in the subsurface. The goal of this technology is to provide data to better manage pollution site investigations and cleanup. TEDS would create a collection and analysis system that retrieves soil-bound pollutants as well as soluble and non soluble contaminants from groundwater. When the system is commercialized, it will “sniff” for the presence of pollutants; identify the pollutant, its location and quantity. This process will create conceptual models that depict the location and rate of movement of the pollution. The end result of this process also reduces the regular costs of pollution remediation.
Active Spectrum is a US based producer of electron spin resonance (ESR/EPR) spectrometer.
Fuss & O’Neill is a US based consulting civil and environmental engineering firm.
Ion Signature is a US based software developer that enable increased capacity and profitability for high-throughput organizations by providing accurate analyses.