NASA SBIR 2008 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Giner Electrochemical Systems, LLC
89 Rumford Avenue
Newton, MA 02466 - 1311
(781) 529-0500

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Han Liu
hliu@ginerinc.com
89 Rumford Avenue
Newton, MA 02466 - 1311
(781) 529-0531

Expected Technology Readiness Level (TRL) upon completion of contract: 5

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project is directed toward development of a novel microfiltration filter that has distinctively narrow pore size distribution, low flow resistance, low pressure drop and simple regeneration process. The regeneration process, which requires minimal material and energy consumption, can be completely automated and the filtration performance can be restored within a very short period of time. The overall system filtration efficiency is targeted towards the HEPA standards, where the HEPA filters cannot be regenerated effectively.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
Dust pollution is one of the major issues that threaten the health of the astronauts and system reliability for Moon and Mars exploration. NASA has a clear need to remove particulate matter suspended in habitat air. The filtration system needs to be highly efficient, durable, reliable, and simple to maintain.

Preferably, the system would be capable of in situ regeneration that would be required infrequently. The proposed filtration system, capable of being regenerated in place by utilizing changes in the atmospheric humidity, is very promising. It would not require intense reverse air pulses to renew the filtration surface as conventional filters do. Elimination of the pulse cleaning allows the filtered particulate to be collected in aggregate form, thereby simplifying mission atmospheric control.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
While the novel filtration media contemplated in this proposal is directed toward NASA missions, substantial additional opportunities also exist, both within the Department of Defense and in civilian markets.

Within land forces there are numerous vehicles and stationary installations that require atmospheric control to afford protection from biological and particulate (radiological) threats. Filtration is an integral part of that protection. However in remote and hostile environments, the efforts required to maintain the filtration equipment can be problematic. Thus an efficiently regenerative microfilter would be advantageous. Uses for such a device range from personnel carriers, battle tanks, remote command centers, and field hospitals. We estimate that there may be 50,000 such vehicles/installations in the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps that could utilize this technology.

Other applications include biological filtration, protein purification, and precision filtration for the milk and beverage industry that requires good anti-fouling, and regeneration properties.

NASA's technology taxonomy has been developed by the SBIR-STTR program to disseminate awareness of proposed and awarded R/R&D in the agency. It is a listing of over 100 technologies, sorted into broad categories, of interest to NASA.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Air Revitalization and Conditioning Composites