Observer Reporter
Tuesday, November 29, 2005

SDGroup gets Innovation Partnership grant

WAYNESBURG- Separation Design Group, LLC, an advanced technology product development firm in Waynesburg, was recently awarded a $3,000 microgrant from Innovation Partnership.

The grant supports the company's effort to prepare a proposal submitted to the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a feasibility study to develop enhancements for analytic instruments.

The research carried out by SDGroup will help develop new laboratory instruments capable of performing dynamic analysis of the ultra-rapid cycle (URC) adsorption separations. The instrument modifications will allow precision engineering of devices incorporating the ultra-rapid cycle separations process being developed at SDGroup. URC has broad commercial applications, including oxygen enrichment for increased combustion efficiency, fuel cells, and aerospace applications. Other uses of the proprietary technology include portable medical oxygen concentrators and water purification devices.

SDGroup's mission is to develop ultra-rapid cycle separations modules for multiple applications. The implementation of low-cost, energy-efficient separations will create major improvements in environmental quality and increase the competitiveness of industries that rely on separation technologies for a substantial portion of their operations.

Innovation Partnership, which awarded the grant, is a collaboration of economic development agencies in Pennsylvania, including the Pennsylvania Small Business Development Centers (SBDC), the Ben Franklin Technology Partnership, Catalyst Connection (based in Pittsburgh), Innovation Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Life Science Greenhouses.

This partnership has been designed to increase both the quantity and the quality of the statewide Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) proposals through marketing, proposal preparation and proposal assistance.

Small Business Development Center and the Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence at the University of Pittsburgh Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business assisted SDGroup in making vital connections to the Innovation Partnership program. Paul Petrovich, Technology Consultant at the SBDC, reviewed the grant-winning proposal and the final proposal submitted to the NSF, as well as earlier successful proposals SDGroup submitted to the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

SDGroup currently occupies offices and a laboratory in Waynesburg and has 10 employees. The company has recently concluded an agreement with the county to lease the former Curry Home and will move its operations there early 2006.



Print this article


Back to News archive