North Haven, CT (May 8th, 2012) - Precision Combustion Inc. (PCI) announced today that it has won an Army SBIR Phase I award to develop a compact and high performance regenerable air filter media and system to protect building and other infrastructure occupants against toxic airborne chemicals.
Airborne toxic industrial chemicals (TIC’s) pose a threat to military and homeland security personnel as well as to the public. Current carbon-based chemical adsorbent filters have limited lifespans and cannot be regenerated, resulting in high maintenance cost and safety concerns.
PCI's innovation is a novel design for a compact regenerable adsorption media as well as associated system technology for capturing TIC’s as a retrofit to existing building HVAC units. This is based on PCI’s Microlith® adsorption material support elements originally developed for NASA for spacecraft and space station use. The modular regenerable technology may also have application to other enclosures and to mobile systems.
In Phase I of this project, we will be working to develop the regenerable filter media as well as to develop a bench-scale adsorber module that will demonstrate efficient removal of selected TIC compounds from air, with high sorbent capacity and rapid in-situ regeneration.
According to Dr. Christian Junaedi, PCI principal investigator, objectives for the regenerable system include both more effective protection and lower cost compared to the current air filter technology, with potential substantial savings from avoiding filter change-out and replacement costs as well as reduced building energy requirements. Compact size will facilitate building retrofit.
PCI has also received additional funding support for this technology from Connecticut Innovations under its SBIR-matching Acceleration and Commercialization Program. The Connecticut program supplements SBIR Phase I project to increase the likelihood of commercial success, and will also support a small project at the University of Connecticut to further explore the PCI filter.
According to Kevin Burns, PCI President states,
In addition to meeting the protection and efficiency needs of the military and homeland security markets, we think success will create a new solution for commercial and industrial buildings. Our regenerable filter systems will improve indoor air quality while reducing maintenance and energy costs, thereby offering building systems companies a new sales driver for their air handling systems. We will be exploring this opportunity with building systems companies.
Precision Combustion, Inc. is a clean energy technology company developing and manufacturing catalytic devices and systems for energy sector applications. To learn more, visit www.precision-combustion.com.
The U.S. Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program seeks to stimulate technological innovation through competitive solicitations targeted to solve government agency objectives. Approximately one in eight Phase I proposals are funded for proof-of-concept R&D, with 40%-45% of those advancing to a Phase II for sustained development. Winners keep the rights to technology developed and are encouraged to commercialize the technology.
For more information, contact:
Director, Marketing and Business Development
203-287-3700 ext. 290