Technologies funded by the DOE-EM Office of Science and Technology were again among the R&D 100 Award winners this year. R&D 100 Awards for 1998 were presented in September at a ceremony in Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. Winners receive a plaque and recognition in an issue of R&D Magazine, which aids in the commercialization of their technologies.

Since 1963, R&D Magazine has sponsored an annual competition to recognize the 100 most significant new technologies developed throughout the world during the previous year. The magazine’s editors and a panel of 75 scientific experts in a variety of disciplines select the winners. Technologies submitted are judged on their broad-based impact on society rather than on their solving very specialized problems. Winners typically involve significant breakthroughs in technology. Former winners of the R&D awards include the automated teller machine (1973), the fax machine (1975), and the digital compact cassette (1993).

The following OST-funded technologies won R&D 100 Awards for 1998.

Self-Assembled Monolayers on Mesoporous Supports

Self-Assembled Monolayers on Mesoporous Supports (SAMMS), developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) under sponsorship of the Mixed Waste Focus Area, is a unique innovation that removes radionuclides and metals from aqueous and organic liquids and gaseous streams. SAMMS integrates two technologies: mesoporous ceramics (a Mobil Oil Corporation technology) and an innovative method for attaching "monolayers," single layers of densely packed molecules, to the pore surfaces throughout ceramic material. The molecules are custom designed to seek out mercury, lead, chromium, and other toxic or precious metals.

SAMMS’ appeal is its versatility. It can be applied to water and soil cleanup at sites with prevalent mercury contamination, industrial waste water treatment, and metal recovery. SAMMS also serves as a waste storage medium because the ceramic material encapsulates the metal it absorbs.

SAMMS is available in powder or bead form. Each grain of ceramic material is 5 to 15 micrometers in diameter and contains a densely ordered array of cylindrical pores. The chemically fitted monolayers reside within the pores, with the molecules binding at one end to the ceramic material. The molecules’ free ends are then available for binding to a targeted metal species passing through the pore.

PNNL is currently gathering data for the potential commercialization of SAMMS.

In Situ Redox Manipulation

In Situ Redox Manipulation (ISRM), also developed by PNNL, in this case with funding from the Subsurface Contaminants Focus Area, is a ground-water remediation technique that eliminates or immobilizes toxic and carcinogenic contaminants (metals, inorganic ions, and radionuclides) within an aquifer. It can also remove the toxin chromate, which above certain concentrations threatens humans and fish. ISRM operates by injecting a nontoxic chemical into the aquifer through a ground-water well, creating an in situ treatment zone within the contaminant plume.

PNNL researchers tested ISRM at Hanford in a known chromate plume. They placed five ground-water wells about 500 feet from the Columbia River and injected the chemical sodium dithionite into a well for approximately 10 hours. On reaching the ground water, the sodium dithionite reacted with iron in the ground and spread into a circle 50 feet in diameter. Beginning 30 hours later, a nontoxic byproduct called sodium sulfate was removed over the span of a week. The five wells formed a 150-foot-wide barrier, expected to last up to 30 years, for the ground water to filter through when flowing toward the river. This process destroys or immobilizes targeted contaminants that cross the barrier.

Because ISRM occurs underground, reduced exposure increases worker safety. It is cost-effective because it uses standard 6-inch ground-water wells, as opposed to requiring the building of a permanent structure. ISRM is expected to save 60 percent over the next 10 years when compared to present remediation methods.

ISRM has been field-tested at two locations on the Hanford Site. It will be field-tested this year at an Army base in Ft. Lewis, Washington and the Navy’s Moffitt Field in Mountain View, California to remediate chlorinated hydrocarbons. Battelle, operator of PNNL, is seeking a commercial partner to develop and market the technology.