Project Grant 1843943

This $100,000 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program will support the development of passive solar desalination technology for produced water from oil and gas extraction sites. The Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station will modify existing solar evaporation ponds using hierarchical nanstructured hydrogel materials to increase evaporation rates and superhydrophobic coatings to enhance water droplet departure on glass...

This $269,334 National Science Foundation (NSF) Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant was awarded to Hplus Inc., a small disadvantaged business located in Santa Barbara, CA. The funding supports the development of an advanced porous transport layer (PTL) design for proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers to produce low-cost, energy-efficient green hydrogen. Key objectives include: (1) developing a numerical model to...

Federal Cooperative Agreement Award Summary Pure Blue TECH Inc. received a $601,287 Cooperative Agreement from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation under the SECURE Water Act – Research Agreements program (CFDA 15.560), awarded December 16, 2025, with an ultimate completion date of April 30, 2027. The company will prototype and pilot a Sensor Integrated Reverse Osmosis (SIRO) membrane system and accompanying digital monitoring platform designed to enhance desalination and water purification...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) Project Grant award of $274,994 supports the development of an innovative, membrane-free, and chemical-free desalination technology based on ion concentration polarization. The goal is to create a scalable system that can effectively transition from a bench-scale production capacity of 10 liters per hour to a larger-scale capacity of 1,000 liters per hour. This advancement aims to make desalination more...

The U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation awarded a $600,493.97 Cooperative Agreement to Pure Blue TECH Inc., doing business as Pure Blue, under the SECURE Water Act - Research Agreements program (CFDA 15.560). The funding supports the manufacturing and field piloting of novel anti-fouling nanopatterned ultrasonic reverse osmosis (RO) membrane elements for efficient, high-recovery desalination of brackish water and purification of surface water. The key innovation is the...

Coflux Purification, Inc. received a $175,000 Project Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program (CFDA 10.212), awarded September 1, 2025, with completion targeted for April 30, 2026. The company is developing a field-ready water treatment reactor designed to address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination in agricultural areas and rural watersheds. The technology...

The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science awarded a $206,000.00 Project Grant (CFDA 81.049 - Office of Science Financial Assistance Program) to Faraday Technology, Inc., a subsidiary of Physical Sciences Inc., for the development of "ADDITIVELY MANUFACTURED HEAT EXCHANGERS FOR SCO2 AND MOLTEN SALT NUCLEAR REACTORS". The project aims to advance innovative heat exchanger technologies for use in supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) and molten salt nuclear reactor systems. Faraday...

The Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation awarded a $300,360 Cooperative Agreement to the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology under the SECURE Water Act – Research Agreements program (CFDA 15.560). The award will fund a pilot-scale validation of a novel Janus hollow fiber membrane-based direct contact membrane distillation process for high-salinity produced water desalination utilizing waste heat from September 1, 2021 through March 31, 2024. The research activities aim to...

Federal Cooperative Agreement Award Summary Osmopure Technologies, Inc., a small disadvantaged business based in Boulder, Colorado, received a $1.525M Cooperative Agreement from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) program (CFDA 47.084) for the period September 1, 2025 through August 31, 2028. The award supports the development and scaling of pressure-driven distillation membrane technology for ultrapure water production, specifically targeting...

This $649,989 Project Grant awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) program supports the development of a portable, membrane-free water purification and monitoring system by Iowa State University of Science and Technology. The overarching goal is to create a fit-for-purpose solution to address water insecurity in regions with limited infrastructure and frequent water quality issues due to climate change or natural...