SBIR-STTR Award

Simple and Effective Fouling Release Coatings to Make Industrial Heat Exchangers More Energy Efficient
Award last edited on: 7/7/2017

Sponsored Program
SBIR
Awarding Agency
NSF
Total Award Amount
$1,059,902
Award Phase
2
Solicitation Topic Code
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Principal Investigator
Timothy Rost

Company Information

Nano Hydrophobics Inc

2256 Pacific Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94115
   (415) 673-7371
   phboyd@nanohydrophobics.com
   nanohydrophobics.com/
Location: Single
Congr. District: 12
County: San Francisco

Phase I

Contract Number: 1447402
Start Date: 1/1/2015    Completed: 6/30/2015
Phase I year
2015
Phase I Amount
$150,000
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project include saving energy, lowering industrial and power generation-caused greenhouse gas emissions, improving the competitiveness of U.S. industry, and reducing the quantity of chemicals introduced into the nation?s water supplies. More than 1% of U.S. energy consumption is expended overcoming the insulating effects of naturally occurring mineral fouling. This technology has the potential to reduce U.S. energy consumption by 0.7 to 1.9% of annual US carbon-based energy representing from .55 to 1.5 quads. The reductions in energy consumption will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) on the order of 54.1 to 125.8 million metric tons of GHGs. Recognizing climate change is a worldwide problem, if fully deployed to other industrialized nations, this technology has the potential to eliminate 0.7% to 1.7% of the world's GHGs which equal 252.6 to 571.3 million metric tons of GHGs. The competitiveness of US products will be improved by large reductions of energy-related manufacturing costs without need of capital investment, and it will reduce chemical additives to cooling tower water.


This project seeks a solution to "the major unresolved problem of heat transfer" which is naturally occurring mineral fouling on heat transfer surfaces (HTS). This often overlooked problem consumes 1% of the total energy consumed by the U.S. and other industrialized nations, and represents 1% of our planet's greenhouse gas emissions. The objective of the research is to develop long-lasting thin film coatings, which can protect HTS from fouling, while not impeding thermal efficiency. Using recently discovered nanomaterials, solution is applied as a coating to transform the surface properties of HTS to ones having the lowest surface energy values that have ever been created. With a low surface energy, the coatings reduce fouling nucleation as well as reducing fouling adherence to the HTS. The low adhesion of any fouling which nucleates, combined with the action of water flowing over the HTS should cause the release of any remaining fouling, effectively making the surfaces "self-cleaning." This self-cleaning mechanism has been successfully demonstrated in laboratory experiments. This research examines the fundamental chemistry and materials science of a new class of low surface energy self-assembling ultra hydrophobic nanocoatings that could spawn innovation across a range of disciplines.

Phase II

Contract Number: 1632244
Start Date: 10/1/2016    Completed: 9/30/2018
Phase II year
2016
(last award dollars: 2019)
Phase II Amount
$909,902

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will further develop and commercialize an innovative coating which minimizes the accumulation of mineral fouling on industrial heat exchanger surfaces. Heat exchangers are used to heat or cool fluids in industrial processes, such as chemical manufacturing, oil refining, power generation, food processing, electronics manufacturing, and many more. Air conditioning for factories and large commercial buildings also represents a significant use of heat exchangers. Fouling occurs when naturally dissolved minerals in water, often called "hard" water, precipitate out of the water when it contacts a hot surface. This fouling can be seen in a typical home on the surface of a teakettle or showerhead. The resulting mineral crystals adhere strongly, and form an insulating layer that materially reduces the thermal efficiency of industrial heat exchangers. Mineral fouling is estimated to cost U.S. industry $40 Billion per year, and waste $3 Billion of energy, representing upwards of 1% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to wasting energy, this worldwide, never-ending problem increases factory downtime and maintenance costs, causes industry to spend large amounts on chemical treatment of water supplies, and decreases the useful life of heat exchanger systems. An effective coating will result in substantial environmental benefits including the elimination of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the wasted energy, and a reduction of the water treatment chemicals, which eventually enter community wastewater streams.The coating material is a low surface energy, self-assembling hydrophobic material which is a composite of a host polymer and a nanoparticle. The low surface energy of the coating impedes the attachment of the minerals to the coated heat transfer surface. Phase I results showed that any fouling accumulation on a coated surface exhibits low adhesion strength, which allows any fouling that does occur to predominantly be dislodged by the force of the water flowing over it - a phenomenon call "self-cleaning." The coating is very thin - less than 500 nm - which minimizes impedance of heat transfer due to the presence of the coating itself. Phase II research will focus on optimizing the properties of the coating, including substrate adhesion, surface energy, and toughness to ensure a useful life under industrial conditions. This will be accomplished by changing the host polymer chemistry to facilitate self-assembly, and also by changing the chemistry of the nanoparticle to obtain a covalent bond between the host polymer and nanoparticle. Work will also be performed to design the application process for industrial scale, and validate lab results with field trials at industrial sites.