Progress 07/01/13 to 02/28/15
Outputs
Target Audience: Tidewater Utilities, our partner, is a drinking water Delaware Utility. Removal of nitrates and nitrites from rural drinking water well is a target application. Delaware Office of Drinking of Water. This office is the regulatory body in Delaware for drinking water and is involved to assist MIcronic in reaching out to communities with contaminated drinking waters. VA Department of Environmental Quality, the water regulatory body in Virginia. They are interested in our results for the application to treating acid mine drainage. VA Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy, the oil, gas, and coal permitting agency in VA. They are very interested in our results for application to treating acid mine drainage and have offered in kind support to a pilot. University of Virginia's College at Wise, a partner in a major grant application to the VA Tobacco Commission, and will provide environmental, economical, and testing and and anaylisis for the pilots conducted under grant. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Micronic is fortunate in attracting four excellent interns durng the period of the USDA grant. Two summer interns: a third year mechanical engineering student from University of Maryland returned for a second year to intern summer 2013; a second year environmental engineering student from James Madison University's STEM program. This fall another intern, disabled war veteran joined us for a few months until he landed a real job. Our most recent intern, Stephen London, joined Micronic in December, holds a BS in Chemical Engineering, and was recently certified as a patent agent - adding value in our new patent activities. He now consults for the Company. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? We have provided results to our partners, Tidewater Utilities, and Delaware Office of Drinking Water.Dr. Roper presented test results of the USDA grant to the National Capital Region of Amercian Water Resources Assoication in March 2014. A paper has been accepted by the Water Environment Foundation for Fall 2014. We will continue to provide it to partners, Delaware and potential investors, and upload it to our website. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
In the United States population increases and economic growth are imposing ever-increasingdemands on limited water resources. It is critical that the demand for food is met, and thatprecious water resources are protected for the agricultural economy to be robust and growing.Protecting and restoring surface and groundwater resources for drinking and other uses is a majorchallenge while maintaining the increasing demand for higher crop yields and increased meat production through confined animal feeding operations (CAFO's). The USDA and EPArecognize that CAFO's, if not managed responsibly, can negatively impact human health and theenvironment (USDA/EPA, 1999). This is particularly important for nitrate and nitritecontamination resulting from agricultural operations that are contaminating groundwater suppliesfor drinking water in rural community well systems.Micronic Technologies' innovative water treatment system, MicroDesalTM, has treated drinkingwater and wastewater significantly reducing pollutants including heavy metals, which are found in animal feed, as well as nutrients such as nitrates, nitrites, and phosphorus. This new technology also effectively removes bacteria and other toxic contaminants. The removal of nitrates and nitrites is critical for the agricultural community, as the EPA has identified these as major pollutants for a number of the nation's major watersheds such as Chesapeake Bay, Great Lakes, Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi River watersheds (EPA, 2013). The application of this technology in agricultural operations could benefit the farm community's challenge of finding cost-effective solutions to protect and restore the water resources on which they depend.! In Phase I of this program Micronic Technologies' MicroDesalTM demonstrated the capability to significantly reduce nitrate and nitrite levels from eight selected nitrate and nitrite contaminated wells in central and southern Delaware using its bench prototype (2.1) with a capacity of 25 gallons per day (GPD). Water samples from each well were collected, processed, and evaluated for the summer, fall and winter seasons. The results of the treated water achieved reductions of >95% of the amount of nitrates and nitrites substantially below EPA drinking water standards.! The research conducted in this project demonstrated the MicroDesalTM system's effectiveness, reliability and reproducibility of removing nitrates and nitrites from well water polluted by agricultural operations in central and southern Delaware. These contaminants create significant issues for water resources impacted by agricultural operations. The testing results proved the Micronic's system very capable of removing nitrates and nitrites to levels from up to 30 mg/L to below 0.4 mg/L to non-detectable. The eight wells selected for water testing during the summer, fall, and winter-time periods were known to be contaminated with nitrates and nitrites. Micronic Technologies coordinated closely with Tidewater Utilities and the State of Delaware's Office of Drinking Water in selecting the sites and establishing protocols for collecting, transporting and processing the water. Details of this process are provided in this report. The results of this research, when commercialized, will benefit the agricultural community by providing a low cost, highly efficient technology to remove pollutants commonly associated with ! ! !Phase!I!Final!Report!-!Award!No.!2013;33610;20837! ! Micronic!Technologies!Company!Proprietary!~!Do!Not!Disclose! 5! agricultural operations. This will aid in meeting stringent regulatory requirements on water quality impacted by CAFOs and other agricultural operations, as well as demonstrate the agricultural industry's commitment to reduce nutrient pollution of ground and surface waters. The application of this technology will help to mitigate climate change, reduce nitrate and nitrite pollution and more efficiently utilize water, all of which are identified as USDA societal challenges. The environmental footprint of Micronic's system is estimated to be 10% of the footprint of dominant competing technologies, most notably high ion exchange and reverse osmosis (RO). Alternative systems use expensive membranes and filters, as well as chemicals in the process, where MicroDesalTM system does not. !
Publications
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