Observer Reporter
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Greene County company gets $500,000 NSF grant
BY COLLEEN NELSON
WAYNESBURG - When it comes to measuring innovation, an award from the National Science Foundation can be a pretty good yardstick.
For Separation Design Group of Waynesburg, the measure is a $500,000 grant from NSF to continue work on the advanced technology firm's innovative Modular Oxygen Enrichment Device.
This Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant also marks continuing NSF support of a product that promises big savings in a small package through improved combustion efficiency.
"Industries using oxygen enrichment today typically install a large, expensive, complex oxygen concentrator plant that costs tens of thousands to millions of dollars. This puts the advantages of oxygen enrichment beyond the financial reach of small to midsize businesses," technology creator and company CEO Doug Galbraith said.
"The module we are developing is expected to cost under $1,000 and be easily installed and operated in even the smallest glass or metal forging shop. Industries could reduce their fuel consumption by 13 percent or more," he said.
NSF support of the project began in 2004 with a Phase I SBIR grant. That year, SDGroup was one of only five companies in Pennsylvania to receive such a grant. The highly competitive Phase II selection process required the company to present comprehensive research and commercialization plans for their project.
NSF also provides an additional $500,000 in matching funds as an incentive to bring outside investment dollars to the project. Phase II will match one dollar to every two dollars of private or public money invested in SDGroup during the Phase II project, which begins in early 2006 and continues for two years.
Intern positions are available through the grant for undergraduates in chemistry, physics, material science, electronics and computer modeling.
"We will also be hiring a materials scientist and an electronics engineer," Galbraith said. "We will be creating a few manufacturing and assembly jobs as the product is tested and finally ready for market."
Since the company was founded in 2003, it has grown from two to 10 full- and part-time employees, most of whom are Greene County residents.
"I never thought I'd have an opportunity to work on a project with such a broad impact so close to home," said employee Casey Himel, of New Freeport.
A 1999 West Greene graduate, Himel is now putting his degree in mechanical engineering from West Virginia University to good use, building prototypes and doing general research in the laboratory with chemists, physicists, computer scientists and other engineers.
"We are all coming together on this project, interrelating with our strong suits. This is really helping me work towards my professional engineering license," Himel said.
Although this project focuses on oxygen enrichment to improve combustion efficiency, the broader uses include aquaculture, biomass conversion, water treatment and fuel cells - processes where oxygen is the rate-limiting factor. Adding oxygen to the aeration system in a waste water-treatment plant, for example, can double its capacity.
"Our module will make this an affordable option for communities struggling to expand infrastructure on limited budgets," Galbraith said.
SDGroup recently submitted a new Phase I proposal to NSF for development of analytic instruments capable of characterizing the new separations processes they are developing. Ongoing research to develop a lightweight portable medical oxygen concentrator is funded through the National Institutes of Health.
Along with this aggressive research schedule, SDGroup is preparing to move to its new facility on Rolling Meadows Road. The company recently signed a lease/purchase agreement with Greene County to acquire the former Curry Home, and plans to set up shop in one wing of the 57,000 square-foot building by March.
More information about SDGroup and adsorption technology is available online at www.separationdesign.com
