NRT has also been awarded other SBIR contracts to develop additional innovative technologies to improve recycling and reduce worker exposure to the municipal waste stream.
Impact of Commercial Success. By 1996, over 40 VinylCycle® systems were in operation in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Australia. NRT reports over $6 million in sales to date, with gross sales expected to reach $280 mil lion to $1.4 billion over the next 10 years.
The success of VinylCycle® has fostered development of a color/polymer sorter for plastics. Separate funding from another EPA SBIR contract has resulted in the successful development and subsequent commercialization of MultiSort®, which allows automated sorting of 5,000 pounds per hour of plastic bottles by color and type to facilitate recycling. NRT reports over $1 million in sales of MultiSort® in the U.S., Europe, and Japan.
Since winning its first SBIR contract, NRT has grown from 3 employees to a staff of 30 in 1994. In recognition of its admirable accomplishments, NRT received EPA’s 1991 " Outstanding Small Business Enterprise Award" and became one of the first companies to receive the Tibbetts Award in 1996.
Membrane Technology and Research, Inc.
Membrane Technology and Research, Inc. (MTR), in Menlo Park, CA, received an SBIR contract from EPA to develop a membrane separation process capable of recovering volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from contaminated air streams. The VaporSep®- recovery system developed by MTR combines proven condensation techniques with a unique pressure-driven membrane vapor separation process. This combination pro duces far better recovery performance than condensation alone, achieving much higher recovery rates or
maintaining existing recovery rates under less extreme temperature and pressure conditions.
The key to the VaporSep® recovery process is an organic-selective composite membrane that is 10 to 100 times more permeable to organic compounds than to air. This rugged, high-flux polymeric membrane consists of a very thin, highly selective, rubbery top layer and a tough, relatively open microporous support layer. The top layer performs the separation; the porous support layer provides mechanical strength. The backing material for the structure is a nonwoven fabric.
Environmental Significance. VOCs and other organic compounds are the most com mon pollutants emitted from chemical processes. Titles I and III of the CAAA of 1990 require elimination or control of a large percentage of these emissions. Each year, chemical manufacturers alone must remove some 500 million pounds of organic pollutants from 50 million cubic feet of air.
Air and organic vapor permeate the membrane at rates determined by their relative permeabilities and the pressure difference across the membrane. Depending on the system design, MTR’s VaporSep® system removes and recovers between 90 and 99.99 percent of the VOCs from the feed air stream and reduces the VOC content of the vented gas to 100 ppm or less. In addition, the recovered VOCs can be reused at a fraction of the cost of virgin compounds.
Impact of Commercial Success. MTR has installed more than 30 VaporSep® systems at various chemical and pharmaceutical plants, and has reported sales of the system at $4.4 million. MTR’s achievement was recognized in 1990 when the company received the R&D
