Tornadic Water Purification for Abandoned Mine Sites on Federal Land

In the USDA-NIFA-SBIR-009301 funding opportunity Topic Area 8.1 Forests and RelatedResources Subtopic 3. Reducing Ecological Damage by Forest Operations the USDA identifieda need for new and innovative technologies focused on reducing water degradation caused byforest operations and reducing impacts to the ecological structure of the operational area.Inresponse to this need Micronic Technologies is proposing development of a water purificationTM system based on the company's TOP technology for application to abandoned mines andassociated Mining-Influenced Waters (MIW) and acid mine drainage (AMD) on federal land.Work to accomplish this goal is structured around four technical objectives; identify abandonedmine sample sites and acquire wastewater samples process and analyze samples identify apreliminary Phase II demonstration system layout and conduct a market study of the TOPâ„¢technology for MIW/AMD remediation on federal lands.Under prior funding from the USDA Micronic has developed a prototype engineering design forprocessing cheese manufacturing wastewater in a controlled manufacturing environment.Anticipated results of the Phase I program effort will build off this core technology and developa proof-of-concept demonstration for application to federal forest land operations.Given theconsiderable differences between the controlled environment of a manufacturing facility and theremote physically corrosive field environment of an abandoned mine site the proposed effortwill require not only the demonstration of the technology when run against wastewater streamsbut also the identification of a system layout which incorporates significant innovations to thetechnology.The successful implementation of the proposed system which doesn't use filtersmembranes or chemicals will be transformative for water purification technology.Potentialcommercial application and market impacts of such a commercialization effort would besignificant and can be applied to a broad range of wastewater treatment solutions.The valueproposition of the proposed technology is found in; an increase in water reuse a reduction inwater treatment costs and increased responsiveness to environmental regulation.Improvementsare realized in a range of areas including water reclamation water reuse and makeup waterreduction.This will lower water usage expenses provide more clean water and create potentialancillary revenue from the reuse of recovered clean water and the monetization of a proactiveapproach to federal local and state environmental regulatory compliance with an associatedreduction in penalty risk.