1. Thin-Film Fiber Optic Sensors for Power Control and Fault Detection
   Airak Engineering, Inc.; New Castle, VA
2. In-Line Trona Fiber-Optic Raman System
   Detection Limit, Inc.; Laramie, WY
3. Novel Carbon Monoxide Sensor for PEM Fuel Cell Systems
   NexTech Materials, Ltd.; Worthington, OH
4. Adaptive Daylighting Control System
   Orion Engineering Company; Westford, MA

FOSSIL ENERGY

2. Instrumentation for Sampling, Measuring, and Monitoring Green House Gases, Coal-Fired Related Pollutants and Hydrogen

5. Gas Imaging System for Green House Gases
   Pacific Advanced Technology; Santa Ynez, CA
6. Improved Sampling Probe for Ammonia Measurement
   Physical Sciences, Inc.; Andover, MA
7. Eliminating Particle-Related Artifacts in Real-Time Measurement of Mercury in Flue Gases
   MSP Corporation; Minneapolis, MN
8. Electrochemical Sensors for Volatile Nitrogen Compounds in Air
   J and N Enterprises, Inc.; Valparaiso, IN
9. SEM/MIRS Characterization of Nitrogenated Particulate Matter
   RJ Lee Group; Monroeville, PA 

BIOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH

3. Carbon Management

10. Carbon Sequestration by Hybrid Poplars in the Pacific Northwest
    Broadacres Nursery, Inc.; Hubbard, OR

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

4. In Situ Stabilization of Hazardous and Radioactive Wastes

11. EMR (TM) for Front End Operations
    Mission Research Corporation; Santa Barbara, CA
12. Bottoms-Up In-Situ Vitrification of Hard-to-Treat Buried Mixed Wastes
    Montec Associates, Inc.; Butte, MT
13. Tritium Probe for In Situ (in place) Analyses of Tritium (3H) in Well Waters
    Technical Associates; Canoga Park, CA

COMPUTATIONAL AND TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH

5. Organic-Based Emissive Devices for Flat Panel Display Technology

14. Organic Diodes Using ISAM Polymers
    F&S, Inc.; Blacksburg, VA
15. Ink-Jet Printing for Fabrication of Full-Color Polymer LED Displays
    Uniax Corporation; Santa Barbara, CA

DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-99ER86100
Amount: $99,930

Power delivery systems for utilities or for military applications require magnetic field measurements to prevent
catastrophic failure, to determine and regulate the amount of power delivered to a load, and to determine the amount of stray energy (electromagnetic interference-EMI) generated by transport and load devices. Current measurement electronics are becoming obsolete as the internal frequencies of power conditioning equipment surpass 100 kHz and as the power contained in these circuits exceeds 1 megawatts. Furthermore, the miniaturization of these components has become increasingly difficult and has not kept pace with the miniaturization of the power electronic modules themselves. This project will develop a thin-film fiber optic magnetic field sensor capable of direct integration into Power Electronic Building Block (PEBB) modules, with the design goal of improving reliability and survivability of the power conversion and control circuitry. Phase I will convert a bulk-optical system into its fiber optic equivalent, explore the high-frequency characteristics of thin-film magnetic field sensors, and develop basic control methodologies. Phase II will optimize the thin-film sensor, integrate it into the control system of smart PEBB modules, and develop a pre-production prototype support module.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The potential commercial applications for this technology are enormous. Miniaturized versions of this technology could be extremely useful for monitoring power within semiconductor chips. Fiber optic magnetic field sensors could be especially attractive in a wide range of applications where conventional sensors are difficult to use due to weight constraints, limits of frequency response, geometry, and/or additional shielding requirements.

DOE Grant No. DE-FG03-99ER86098
Amount: $100,000

Soda ash, commonly known as washing soda, is the eleventh largest chemical produced in the U.S. Although formerly produced by the energy-intensive Solvay process, soda ash is now mostly obtained from naturally-occurring deposits of trona. In the processing of trona, real-time measurements of bicarbonate in the process streams would provide important information that could lead to reduced energy costs, reduced plant maintenance, and reduced use of other processing chemicals, such as caustic. This project will combine Raman spectroscopy with a commercially-available fiber-optic system to determine bicarbonate concentrations in process streams. Phase I will install a Raman system for in-line process monitoring of bicarbonate in an actual operating environment. Hardware and software advances will be developed as needed to accompany the in-line installation. During Phase II, the bicarbonate measurement will be extended towards low concentrations, and other applications, such as sulfate monitoring, will be developed.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: This project should lead to a general in-line chemical analysis system applicable to many manufacturing processes and should lead to significant cost savings for chemical manufacturing plants.

DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-99ER86099
Amount: $100,000

Fuel cells are being developed as possible replacements for engines in light-duty vehicles because they are clean, energy efficient, and fuel flexible. Liquid hydrocarbon fuels are attractive as feed stock for fuel cells due to their transportability, high energy density, and existing distribution infrastructure. However, in order to use them, fuel processors are needed to convert the liquid into a hydrogen-rich gas containing little or no carbon monoxide (CO), an impurity that in trace amounts will degrade PEM fuel cell performance. This project will develop low-cost, fast-response and reliable carbon monoxide sensors to monitor performance of these fuel processors. They will be based on the deposition of a thin film of a CO-adsorbing material on a ceramic substrate. It is expected that the film's electrical properties will be dependent on the amount on the adsorbed CO and thus its concentration in a gas mixture. In Phase I, the CO adsorbing material will be chemically synthesized in both powder form and thin films. Powder samples will be evaluated to determine the optimum sensor operating temperature. Prototype thin-film sensors will be fabricated and the CO sensing properties of these sensors will be evaluated.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The CO sensors should lead to advances in the use of fuel cells in automotive vehicles. Other applications include natural gas fuel processors for residential and other on-site PEM fuel cell power generation systems, military logistics fuel processors, and use in chemical manufacturing facilities.

DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-99ER86097
Amount: $99,999

Daylighting has the potential to significantly reduce electrical demands created by lighting in commercial buildings. Current interior lighting systems that attempt to utilize available outdoor light do not readily adapt to changes in the external and internal environments. Not only do these systems adversely impact the occupants and lead to reduced user satisfaction; they also require extensive maintenance and upkeep. This project will develop an adaptive daylighting control system that will eliminate many of the negative characteristics of current daylighting technology. This system will be capable of adapting to the changing occupancy configuration as well as to seasonal and other external lighting variations. Phase I will develop and field a robust, adaptive daylighting control system. It will use a computer-based communication and control system and a novel sensor system to maximize both occupant comfort and energy efficiency.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: This system should have application to both commercial and residential buildings. The technology will lead to a daylighting control system that will facilitate the penetration and market acceptance of energy efficient systems.

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DOE Grant No. DE-FG03-99ER86086
Amount: $99,690

The Department of Energy needs the capability to monitor greenhouse gases in ambient conditions in order to identify the source. A portable imaging and analysis system would be an ideal solution to this problem. This project will transfer innovative technology developed for the military to analyze targets and gases by adapting a state-of-the-art imaging spectrometer that is field portable, lightweight, rugged and low cost. In Phase I, the technology will be evaluated in a controlled laboratory environment and the spectral sensitivity will be characterized. After laboratory characterization, a field test will be conducted in a gas processing plant in order to understand and analyze the effects of the atmosphere on the remote spectral imaging of the green house gases.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: A small, hand held, rugged, portable and low cost imaging spectrometer, that is optimized for the detection of green house gases, can be commercialized for the oil, gas, and chemical companies for monitoring potential leaking valves. The federal government (EPA, DOE) is another potential customer.

DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-99ER86089
Amount: $99,928

The Department of Energy needs an instrument that can accurately measure ammonia, a pollutant in the exhaust gas of coal-fired power plants. Because ammonia is highly reactive, continuously extracting representative samples of the hot, ash-laden flue gas without altering the ammonia content has proven to be an unresolved challenge. This project will identify specific causes for the difficulties in measuring ammonia, develop solutions to the difficulties, and incorporate the solutions into an ammonia sampling probe and analyzer system. In Phase I, theoretical and experimental research will be performed to identify the reasons why a specific continuous extractive ammonia sampling probe and analytical technique, which has been demonstrated to be mechanically reliable, yields ammonia measurements that disagree with accepted standards. Several hypotheses will be systematically tested in order to explain the discrepancies.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: Studies have shown that the annual cost of operating the nitrogen oxide reduction systems could be reduced by hundreds of thousands of dollars per system by improved control over the injection of ammonia into the gas stream. The analyzer resulting from the proposed effort should be utilized in part to create and automate the needed controls. The potential worldwide market for sales of the sampling probe portion of the analyzer exceeds $50M.

DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-99ER86087
Amount: $99,996

Particulate matter in the flue gases of coal-fired power plants is known to take up mercury, a pollutant, and to convert elemental mercury to an oxidized form. Continuous analyzers for mercury require a relatively clean (i.e., particulate free) gas stream on which to perform the analysis. However, conventional methods of removing particles from flue gas bring the flue gas into continuing and close contact with the removed particulate matter. This project will build a sampler that disengages the particulate matter from the sampled flue gas stream, and then passes it to a continuous mercury analyzer, enabling continuous, real-time measurement of the mercury concentration and speciation. Phase I will build an opposing-jet, virtual impactor that will remove the particles from synthetic flue gas. The sampler will have a pressure drop of only several inches of water so that the performance of the continuous mercury analyzer will be unaffected. The sampler will be tested in Phase I with synthetic flue gas.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The sampler should be valuable in any stack sampling situation where particles must be removed from the flue gas before the gas passes through a continuous analyzer. This sampler may enable the continuous monitoring of a variety of toxic gases, such as mercury, ammonia, SOx, NO, and dioxins, at coal-fired power plants, incinerators, cement kilns, and other thermal treatment units.

DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-99ER86090
Amount: $98,536

The Department of Energy is seeking sensors for energy-related pollutant gases in the atmosphere. This project will adapt amperometric gas sensors to make sensitive and selective measurements of these gases. The amperometric gas sensors will be built with new catalysts, and their controlled-potential operation will be demonstrated. Phase I will survey a series of electrode catalysts and measure gases using cyclic voltammetry and square-wave voltammetry of low-capacitance sensors. These sensors will result in pollution monitoring equipment that is less expensive and more portable than currently available options.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: Less expensive methods of making air pollution measurement instruments, including hand held, portable devices should result.

DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-99ER86088
Amount: $99,959

The latest air pollution standards for fine particles in exhaust fumes has the potential to greatly affect U.S. industry, especially that of coal-fired power plants - a major source of electric power. Improved sampling and analysis methods are needed to collect and measure ambient fine particulate matter with greater specificity. In particular, better methods are needed for collecting and analyzing semi-volatile organic and nitrogen compounds. Practical methods do not exist. A combination of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and micro-imaging Raman spectroscopy (MIRS) could be the key toward better particle analysis and improved abilities to monitor air quality. This project will demonstrate the feasibility of combining SEM and MIRS into a single practical instrument. Phase I will determine how the results of an MIRS analysis will be affected by the filters, substrates, and preparation methods used in an SEM analysis. It will also determine the measurement capabilities of a combination of SEM and MIRS techniques on a single sample.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: There is already a need to efficiently obtain detailed characterizations of fine particles, including determining their elemental and molecular make up, to support the fine particle standards. In one estimate, there will be a market for ~100 SEM/MIRS instruments over the next five years, and there will be a considerable market for commercial analytical services that use this combined SEM/MIRS technique.

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DOE Grant No. DE-FG03-99ER86101
Amount: $99,010

An increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide may have profound effects on the global environment and economy. A mitigation strategy is needed to enhance the biological conversion of C0₂ -- an important greenhouse gas -- into a stable form for the long-term sequestration of carbon. This project addresses the issue of increasing plant and soil carbon sequestration by altering existing ecosystems by converting low productive, unimproved pasturelands in the Pacific Northwest to fast growing, hybrid poplar plantations. After harvesting, the carbon will be sequestered through the manufacture of various wood products. In Phase I, the amount of land available for poplar production in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington will be determined, and the feasibility of developing a growers association to assist landowners will be explored. The biological issues that will be addressed include screening and selecting poplar clones for growth, wood density, and lignin content, and understanding the processes of below ground carbon movement and storage.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: Commercial applications include the conversion of large areas to productive poplar plantations with the logs being harvested and processed at age 10 to 12 years, leading to significant sequestration of carbon. The plantations also would take harvest pressure off of existing old growth forests in the Pacific Northwest. The development of high lignin-content clones not only will increase the resultant wood products' strength, but also will reduce the rate at which waste products in the field, such as branches and roots, decompose, leading to increased carbon in the soil.
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DOE Grant No. DE-FG03-99ER86095
Amount: $99,951

The Department of Energy needs surface-based geophysical methods to locate and identify sub-surface contaminants without the use of numerous boreholes in order to reduce the cost. Experiments have shown that a surface-based electromagnetic radiography method can locate and identify particular types of contaminants in the subsurface. This project will develop electromagnetic radiography technology for the identification of contaminants and their concentration levels, while accounting for the effects of the surrounding earth on measured responses. Phase I will develop the mathematical and physical framework for including resonant frequencies in the governing equations for the electromagnetic fields in the earth.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The technology would be deployed by US government agencies that are sensitive about the environment and looking for cost-reduction in front end operations. Commercial companies in production businesses would be interested in this technology in order to comply with EPA regulations, while benefiting from cost savings.

DOE Grant No. DE-FG03-99ER86094
Amount: $100,000

The cost-effective and safe remediation of mixed buried wastes are a major problem throughout the Department of Energy Complex. Approximately 1.6 million cubic yards of residual radioactive material at 20 different sites, dating from the early years of the atomic energy program, and 3.3 million cubic yards (minimum) of mixed wastes are at various DOE facilities throughout the United States. The projected costs of the required site cleanup, using existing technologies, is in the many billions of dollars. This project offers a novel, robust, safe, bottoms-up, in-situ vitrification process to destroy and/or permanently stabilize hard-to-treat buried radioactive and mixed wastes. Phase I will demonstrate that a concentric graphic arc melter can be used as a process heat source and show that the in-situ waste destruction and vitrification technology is a viable means for remediating hard-to-treat wastes. The process can result in a factor of 20 cost savings over treatment schemes that involve excavation and ex-situ vitrification of the mixed buried wastes.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: Commercial applications include the remediation of buried mixed wastes throughout the Department of Energy Complex and at military sites. The process should also have niche applications for the remediation of buried hazardous wastes at numerous industrial sites.

DOE Grant No. DE-FG03-99ER86093
Amount: $100,000

Tritium (i.e., radioactive hydrogen - ³H) in groundwaters is an issue at many Department of Energy facilities. A probe is needed that provides in situ measurements of tritium in well waters. The probe, which must fit into 2 inch (5 cm) diameter monitor wells, should be able to serve as either a monitoring tool or a dedicated, in situ system for automatically performing tritium analyses and reporting results. A Adownhole@ probe has been designed to collect well water samples and measure tritium while in the well. Analytical data, not a water sample, are electronically transmitted to the surface. Ultimate goals for this tritium probe system are low detection limits and unattended operation in wells at remote sites. Other nuclear and chemical measurements such as gamma, pH, etc, are planned for this probe system. Probe prototypes will be constructed using an innovative design for performing tritium analyses within the probe. The probes will be tested under laboratory conditions and in monitor wells in Phase I. Initial testing results and lessons learned in this work will be used to determine the commercial feasibility of the instrument and Phase II development:

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: Applications should include cost-effective, long-term monitoring of contam0ated areas and radioactive waste repositories, and real-time tritium monitoring in groundwaters at DOE sites, commercial nuclear power and research reactors, national laboratories, military installations, and research and development facilities. Hydrological applications include aquifer remediation verification, reservoir characterization, and validation of computational models of contaminant transport.

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DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-99ER86091
Amount: $99,942

Display devices currently used for television, computers, and other appliances are heavy focused on the use of cathode ray tubes, which are not only bulky and heavy but also consume a considerable amount of energy during operation. Flat panel display technology based on the use of organic semiconductors is expected to result in more energy-efficient products that can be built with cheaper manufacturing methods. The principal component of such a display is the organic diode (OD), which can perform the same functions (e.g., rectification, light-emitting displays, and photovoltaic conversion of light) as a traditional diode. However, for the active display of images and information, the light-emitting OD must be integrated with other electronic components to create a smart pixel. This project will develop the large-scale manufacturing technologies necessary to fabricate these organic electronic devices. The organic light emitting diode will be mated with other electronic components to create a "smart pixel." The approach will build on mature manufacturing technologies used for the production of metallized plastic by vacuum evaporation.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The explosive growth of information technology is largely due to the development of manufacturing techniques that can efficiently and reproducibly build devices by interconnecting many diodes. This project should significantly simplify the manufacture of large area displays and thereby enhance the insertion of these energy-efficient products into the marketplace by reducing their cost.

DOE Grant No. DE-FG03-99ER86092
Amount: $98,814

Many portable consumer electronics, such as mobile phones, have small display windows for use in their operation. Many of the displays use liquid crystal technology or semiconductor-based light emitting diodes (LEDs) and are capable of only monochrome images. Low cost methods to produce low power consuming displays would find many applications, especially if full color was possible. One key advance in the area of display technology uses light-emitting polymers, currently in pilot-line development stages in several companies. This project will develop a new fabrication process for these light-emitting polymers that will make possible full color displays. This will be accomplished through the use of ink-jet printing for applying and patterning this polymer. Phase I will consist of three main parts: the development of the hardware required to print the polymers with a high degree of uniformity; the development of polymer solutions with characteristics suitable for ink-jet printing; and the combination of these results to fabricate fully-functional, multi-color displays. These will enable the development of full-color displays in Phase II.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The annual sales of cellular telephones are in excess of $1 billion and growing rapidly. Cell-phone manufacturers are greatly interested the use of polymer displays in next-generation phones. The trend in the industry is for higher information capacity displays and for the development of compact, emissive, multi-color and full-color displays.

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