SBIR-STTR Award

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will engineer a fully automated, trailer-mounted Supersaturated Dissolved Oxygen Injector (SDOX) and determine the effects of addition of dissolved oxygen (DO) to impaired waterways. Waterways with low dissolved oxygen cannot support fish and other aquatic life and are dominated by anaerobic microbial digestive processes. If the amount of organic nutrients in a waterway is such that resulting bacterial populations consume oxygen at a rate higher than can be replenished to the system through natural aeration, then DO concentration is reduced until anaerobic conditions prevail. The potential utility of the SDOX unit ranges from remediation of waterways that have been impaired by long term exposure to organics (due to excessive or improper fertilization practices or other anthropogenic impacts) to emergency response for treatment of organic spills (from wastewater treatment facilities, animal waste lagoons, petroleum spills and the like). Currently, there are no practical methods to rapidly response to a spill of organics into a body of water. One of the most common organic spills is the accidental release of untreated grey water from a municipal wastewater treatment facility. As a result of the Clean Water Act, each state has mandated water quality parameters for the release of pollutants from any point source (such as wastewater treatment facilities). The development of the technology described in this proposal will provide a practical method to remediate spills that may be significantly less expensive than state imposed fines

This SBIR Phase II project completes the design, construction, and testing of the largest readily portable Supersaturated Dissolved Oxygen (SDOXTM) injection system developed in smaller scale in Phase I. During the first year of the project, the SDOX will be used to study the effect of dissolved oxygen addition on water quality and fish health in the tailrace of a hydroelectric dam. In the second year of this project, the SDOX will be used in the prevention of spills and remediation of waterbodies impacted by organics and phosphorous. The effects of the SDOX on removing DO as the limiting component in aquatic ecosystems will be studied during all four seasons of the year. The broader impacts of this research are the ability use of a portable SDOX 400 on aquatic ecosystem restoration that has previously been impractical or impossible. This technology benefits an improved environment for aquatic species, minimized environmental impact from hydroelectric dams, and more economic and efficient wastewater treatment. The technology could positively impact drinking water, recreation, irrigation and other aqueous ecological services important to the public and the environment