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Company
Portfolio Data
Back to Company Search2B TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
UEI: N/A
Number of Employees: 14
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
SBIR/STTR Involvement
Year of first award: 1998
9
Phase I Awards
4
Phase II Awards
44.44%
Conversion Rate
$1,001,761
Phase I Dollars
$3,167,992
Phase II Dollars
$4,169,753
Total Awarded
Awards
SBIR Phase I: Direct Measurements of Black and Brown Carbon Aerosols without Filter Collection
Amount: $223,717 Topic: CT
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project lies in the widespread nature of the problem of airborne Black (BC) and Brown (BrC) carbon particulates. These are formed from combustion processes such as motor vehicles and ships, forest fires and biomass burning, as well as indoor cooking in developing countries. BC and BrC are important components of atmospheric aerosols (small airborne solid and liquid particles) that affect air quality, visibility and climate. The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 7 million premature deaths globally in 2012 were linked to air pollution, and black carbon-containing aerosols are often singled out as a major contributor due to their strong linkages to adverse health effects. Accurate and robust monitoring of BC (and BrC) at a lower cost is necessary in urban and industrial areas throughout the United States and abroad to provide adequate temporal and spatial measurements that can be used to assess regional air quality models and estimate community exposure risks. This information will then make it possible for local and regional government agencies to develop mitigation strategies that protect the health of their communities. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project addresses the problem of accurate and inexpensive Black Carbon (BC) measurements by developing a long-path photometer to quantify airborne BC and BrC particulates. The most common commercially-available technique for BC and BrC requires collection of particulates on a filter. This filter introduces numerous artefacts requiring complicated corrections. Other existing techniques are quite expensive and require significant expertise to operate. The Black Carbon Photometer (BCP) to be developed here will not require pre-concentration on a filter, thus providing a direct, correction-free measurement. It will be operationally simple and require little maintenance, similar to photometers routinely used in monitoring networks for gas phase species such as ozone. The initial BCP will be low power, portable and is projected to cost less than currently available BC analyzers. Thus, it should provide researchers in air quality and public health, as well as those in monitoring agencies, a practical and economical alternative to existing technologies.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2018
NSF
Personal Mercury Monitor for Exposure Measurements
Amount: $149,492 Topic: 113
Personal Mercury Monitor for Exposure Measurements Project Summary Abstract Workers in the oil and natural gas industry are vulnerable to exposure to toxic mercury Hg vapor as a result of routine inspection and maintenance of equipment such as compressors and other process equipment that concentrate species of low volatility over time Exposure of workers to mercury is of concern in many other industries as well including the chlor alkali industry where mercury is used as an electrode gold and silver mining where these precious metals are extracted with mercury manufacture of fluorescent and other lamps dentistry etc The mercury monitors currently on the market are large and difficult to transport and operate in many of the settings where mercury exposure occurs As a result there is a great need for a personal mercury monitor to protect the health of industrial workers Mercury vapor concentrations are best measured by absorbance of the nm emission line of a low pressure Hg lamp the same method used for measurements of ambient ozone Compared to ozone however mercury detection is times more sensitive In preliminary work we modified our recently developed Personal Ozone Monitor POM for mercury concentration measurements This pocket sized instrument weighs only lb and consumes only watts of power In a proof of concept application earlier this year the modified POM displayed excellent precision for Hg of g m in field testing by a leading oil and gas company on their oil and gas production platforms in the North Sea during annual inspection and maintenance A problem discovered with this prototype instrument however is that the necessarily small internal mercury scrubber cm volume has very limited capacity due to the limited number of adsorption sites on the sorbent surface In order to solve the problem of limited scrubber capacity for Hg we propose to develop a photochemical mercury scrubber that photo oxidizes Hg in the gas phase to nanoparticles of HgO that pass through the instrument We have demonstrated and quantified this Hg scrubbing principle in laboratory experiments Advantages of the photochemical mercury scrubber include theoretically unlimited scrubbing capacity endowment of the personal mercury monitor with high selectivity against other UV absorbing species such as ozone NO and volatile aromatic compounds that may occur in industrial environments and elimination of any interference due to sudden changes in humidity With these advantages and our company s previous innovations in miniaturizing instruments for detecting airborne trace gases a breakthrough in technology for monitoring mercury exposure in the workplace is achievable The deliverable for this project if funded will be a pocket sized personal mercury monitor with precision and accuracy comparable to much larger fixed location monitors Deployment of the Hermes Personal Mercury Monitor will improve the safety of workers in all industries where exposure to mercury vapor is a potential hazard Project Narrative Workers in the oil and natural gas industry are particularly vulnerable to exposure to mercury vapor because of their proximity to its sources and maintenance requirements of equipment that often concentrates species of low volatility We will develop a new pocket sized personal mercury monitor that will allow workers to monitor their exposure to this neurotoxin in real time
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2017
HHS
NIH
Personal Exposure Monitoring of the Air Pollutants as a K-12 Educational Tool
Amount: $984,180 Topic: NIEHS
DESCRIPTION provided by applicant Personal Exposure Monitoring of Air Pollutants as an Educational Tool in the GO Treks project launched by the Phase I grant students at schools throughout the U S used personal monitors to measure the air pollutants black carbon and ozone along treks of their own design The treks were uploaded to blogs in the GO website where they were displayed on Google Earth and where students teachers GO staff and air quality scientists discussed the results The students learned about the sources transformations and sinks of air pollutants by acting as citizen scientists forming and testing their own hypotheses using real scientific instruments Highlights include comparisons of rural vs urban exposures discovery of increased pollution levels during pick up drop off traffic at schools comparisons of pollutant levels along busy and residential streets analysis of exposures during commutes to school a trek at a hydraulic fracturing site treks from urban areas into the mountains and investigation of emissions from different types of sources such as lawnmowers and buses One school explored an area that is known to have an underground coal mine fire and even launched the ozone monitor on a balloon to km ft where ozone in the stratosphere was measured We propose to improve upon and expand GO Treks in the Phase II project by implementing a quality assurance QA program for GO Treks data developing a universal Personal Air Monitoring Module PAMM that will allow any air quality sensor to upload data in real time to GO Treks via a smart phone app expanding the suite of miniaturized instruments available to GO Treks to include CO and Equivalent PM in addition to O and black carbon and revising the GO online curriculum to be smaller andquot bite sizedandquot modules each of which can be completing in an hour or less and awarding digital badges for completion of each module Individuals who earn all GO Air Quality digital badges including those awarded for participation in a trek and for achieving a prescribed level of activit on the GO network will be awarded a Mozilla Open Badge that can be included in their digital resume The commercialization plan expands GO Treks to include citizen monitoring by environmental advocates and local government agencies in addition to schools and proposes rental of instruments at a fee of only $ week A business model is proposed that provides exponential growth of the project by continuous reinvestment of all but of profit in new inventory Model results using reasonable assumptions show that in four years GO Treks could be grown to annual rentals of $ M with servicing of organizations from an inventory of instruments PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE The GO Treks project allows citizen scientists including students hobbyists environmental advocates and local government officials to measure air pollutants such as ozone black carbon particulate matter PM and CO along treks in their local communities A Personal Air Monitoring Module PAMM will allow measurements made using any air quality sensor to be uploaded via a cell phone app for display on Google Earth within a public blog for data sharing and public discussion
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2015
HHS
NIH
Personal Exposure Monitoring of the Air Pollutants Ozone and Black Carbon as a K-
Amount: $149,690 Topic: NIEHS
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We propose to make air pollution personal by enabling K-12 students to act as citizen scientists using sophisticated, mobile air pollution monitors to measure their individual exposures to black carbon, a primary pollutant, and ozone, a secondary pollutant. Through their experiments and specially designed curricula, students will learn when and where they and others are exposed to these damaging air pollutants and how that exposure can affect their health. Ozone and black carbon are two of the most damaging air pollutants to human health, and it has been shown that both are asthma triggers and can lead to other health problems, including heart disease and even premature death. Heightened awareness of the way air quality impacts health is vital, and nothing is more impactful than understanding exposure at a personal level. Through our nonprofit partner the GO3 Project, ~50 schools will be loaned a 2B Tech Personal Ozone Monitor (POM) and microAeth personal black carbon
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2014
HHS
NIH
Personal Ozone Monitor
Amount: $736,230 Topic: NIEHS
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In this proposal we respond to the call by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in the PHS 2009-2 Omnibus Solicitation, Exposure Biology Program, Section 1, Technologies for Generating Precise Measures of Environmental Exposures for new products/devices, tools, assays to improve our ability to precisely measure environmental exposures to individuals with high temporal and spatial resolution. According to the solicitation, the device should be of appropriate scale to be field deployable and/or wearable. Ozone, formed in photochemical air pollution, has well documented adverse effects on human health, including reduction of lung function and aggravation of preexisting respiratory disease such as asthma. Emergency department visits, daily hospital admissions and mortality increase during episodes of high ozone concentration. A Personal Ozone Monitor (POM) is required for environmental health studies of the physiological effects of ozone and for validating computer models of human exposure. In the Phase I project we successfully developed a small (4 x 3 x 1.5 inch), light weight (0.7 lb), low power (2.9 watts), low cost ( 795 in parts), battery-operated POM based on the well established method of UV absorbance (an EPA Federal Reference Method). The pocket-sized POM has a precision and accuracy of # 2 ppb, makes new measurements every 10 s and has an internal data logger for downloading data to a personal computer. During the Phase II project proposed here, we will further improve and finalize the development of the POM to include the following: 1) dedicated ground plane on the printed circuit board to further reduce noise, 2) ruggedized, easily manufactured enclosure, 3) human interface consisting of liquid crystal display and keypad, 4) docking station with battery charger, 5) GPS for co-locating measurements with geographical coordinates, and 6) wireless communication between the POM and docking station. Firmware will be developed to support the new functions, and software will be developed for data acquisition and graphing by a computer and for uploading ozone data to the web. The efficacy and accuracy of the POM will be evaluated in personal exposure monitoring studies conducted at the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI) of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Several large markets for a pocket-sized ozone monitor have been identified in addition to personal ozone monitoring; these include rapidly growing industrial applications of ozone and the Global Ozone (GO3) Project, an international educational project in which high school students build and operate an ozone monitoring station and share their data as an overlay on the Google Earth map. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Development of a pocket-sized, battery powered Personal Ozone Monitor (POM) will be completed and evaluated as a means of measuring the time-resolved exposure of individuals during normal daily activities. The POM will facilitate physiological studies of the adverse effects of ozone, formed in air pollution, on human health.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2010
HHS
NIH
Personal Ozone Monitor
Amount: $98,622
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In this proposal we respond to the call by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in the PHS 2007-2 Omnibus Solicitation for new products/devices, tools, assays to improve our ability to precis ely measure environmental exposures to individuals with high temporal and spatial resolution. According to the solicitation, the device should be of appropriate scale to be field deployable and/or wearable. Ozone, formed in photochemical air pollution, ha s well documented adverse effects on human health, including reduction of lung function and aggravation of preexisting respiratory disease such as asthma. Emergency department visits, daily hospital admissions and mortality increase during episodes of high ozone concentration. A Personal Ozone Monitor (POM) is required for environmental health studies of the physiological effects of ozone and for validating computer models of human exposure such as the Air Pollution Exposure (APEX) model used by the Environ mental Protection Agency to assist in establishing national air quality standards. We propose to develop a small (4 x 3 x 1 inch), light weight (d 1 lb), low power (d 3 watts), low cost (d 800 in parts) battery-operated POM based on the well established m ethod of UV absorbance. The instrument will result from further miniaturization of a backpack-sized instrument already commercialized by 2B Technologies and successfully tested as a personal exposure monitor. The pocket-sized POM will have a precision and accuracy of better than 2 ppb and make new measurements every 10 s. The instrument will have an internal data logger and USB computer interface for downloading data into a personal computer. During Phase I, we will evaluate and select miniaturized componen ts, design and construct a prototype POM, test the prototype for effects of orientation, vibration and rapid temperature and humidity change, and, finally, characterize the instrument with respect to the analytical figures of merit of linearity, precision and accuracy. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: A pocket-sized, battery powered Personal Ozone Monitor (POM) will be developed and tested. The POM, which will be based on the well established method of UV absorbance, will facilitate physiological studies of the adv erse effects of ozone, formed in air pollution, on human health.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2008
HHS
NIH
Field Portable Instrument for Iodide Analysis
Amount: $697,582
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Iodine deficiency disorder (IDD) has been identified by the World Health Organization as a serious global health problem affecting 740 million people in 130 countries. Iodine deficiency is the most common cause of preventable brain damage, with nearly 50 million people suffering some degree of IDD-related brain damage. IDD is preventable and treatable by iodization of table salt. Identification of individuals suffering from IDD and populations at risk requires the development of an instrument capable of measuring iodide in urine and both iodide and iodate in table salt. We propose to develop a small, lightweight, inexpensive instrument, the Rapid Iodine Analyzer (RIA), that will allow measurements of iodine present as either iodide or iodate. The instrument will be based on a novel and proprietary detection method successfully demonstrated in our Phase I grant. It will be highly automated and will require very little sample preparation. The portable instrument is expected to have a limit of detection of lt 1 ppb and to be free of interferences. Thus, the sensitivity will be adequate to diagnose patients as having moderate (20-49 ppb) or severe iodine deficiency (lt 20 ppb), as well as those having normal (100- 199 ppb) or excess iodine (gt300 ppb) in their urine. Because of its low cost (lt 2,000 retail), portability (lt 5 lb), and low power requirements (lt 6 watts), the RIA will be highly useful for assessing iodine deficiency in populations in remote locations around the globe and for testing for the presence of iodine additives in salts dispensed in those regions. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: A highly sensitive (lt 1 ppb), portable instrument will be developed for the measurement of iodide and iodate in urine and table salt. The Rapid Iodine Analyzer will be an important new tool for use in addressing the problem of iodine deficiency disorders currently affecting 740 million people in 130 countries.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2008
HHS
CDC
Field Portable Instrument for Iodide Analysis
Amount: $99,982
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Project Summary/Abstract: Iodide deficiency disorders (IDDs) have been identified by the World Health Organization as a serious global health problem affecting 740 million people in 130 countries. Iodine deficiency is t he most common cause of preventable brain damage, with nearly 50 million people suffering some degree of IDD-related brain damage. IDD is preventable and treatable by iodization of table salt. Identification of individuals suffering from IDD and population s at risk requires the development of an instrument capable of measuring iodine in urine and table salt. We propose to develop a small, lightweight, inexpensive instrument to achieve quantification of iodine. The Rapid Iodine Analyzer (RIA) will allow meas urement of iodine present as either iodide or iodate. The instrument will be based on a novel and proprietary detection method described in the text of the proposal. It will be highly automated and will require very little sample preparation. The portable instrument is expected to have a limit of detection of ~1 ppb and to be free of interferences. Thus, the sensitivity will be adequate to diagnose patients as having moderate (20-49 ppb) or severe iodine deficiency (lt 20 ppb), as well as those having norma l (100-199 ppb) or excess iodine (gt300 ppb) in their urine. Because of its low cost (~ 2,000 retail), portability (lt 5 lb), and low power requirements (~2 watt), the iodine instrument will be highly useful for assessing iodine deficiency in populations i n remote locations around the globe and for testing for the presence of iodine additives to salts dispensed in those regions. Project Narrative(Relevance): A high sensitive (.~ 1ppb) portable instrument will be developed for the measurement of iodide and i odate in urine and table salt. The Rapid Iodine Analyzer will be highly useful in addressing the problem of iodine deficiency disorder currently affecting 740 million people in 130 countries.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2006
HHS
CDC
Nitric Oxide Breath Analyzer for Asthma Patients
Amount: $80,455
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In this proposal we respond to the PHS 2005-2 Omnibus Solicitation's call for the development of diagnostic tools for "non-invasive methodologies for measuring airways inflammation in asthma." We propose to develop, test and evaluate a low cost, portable analyzer for the measurement of nitric oxide (NO) in human breath as an indicator of airway inflammation, especially for the diagnosis and treatment of asthma. A method for NO measurement in exhaled breath recently was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and its equivalent in the European Union for the purpose of diagnosing, monitoring and treating patients with asthma and other airway diseases. The instrumental approach (NIOX(r) of Aerocrine AB) makes use of the highly sensitive technique of NO + O3 chemiluminescence, but that method is too complicated and expensive for use in the home. In preliminary results, we have demonstrated the use of a much simpler technique that uses the NO + O3 reaction in a different way. Instead of measuring chemiluminescence, the loss of O3 is measured by UV absorption at 254 nm using a low pressure mercury lamp. This approach, which recently has been successfully marketed in for atmospheric measurements, gives adequate precision (q2 ppbv) and accuracy (q2%) for breath analysis. In addition to being small, light weight and having low power requirements, this new approach eliminates the need for gas standards contained in high pressure gas cylinders. The simplified "stopped flow" design proposed here eliminates the possibility of interference from major components in breath such as water vapor and carbon dioxide. Because of their slow reaction, VOCs such as isoprene also are not expected to interfere. In Phase I we will develop and test a prototype instrument that will be used in a clinical intercomparison with the FDA-approved NIOX apparatus for establishment of equivalency during Phase II. RELEVANCE TO PUBLIC HEALTH The objective of this work is to develop a low cost, accurate and reliable instrument for use in the home that can be used for optimizing the use of therapeutic drugs in the management of asthma.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2006
HHS
NIH
Ultrasonic Detector for Carbon Dioxide
Amount: $0
70042S02-II The quantification of sources and sinks of atmospheric carbon dioxide would be greatly facilitated by the development of a new detector for this important greenhouse gas. In particular a lightweight CO2 sonde, similar to the widely used ozonesonde, could be used to estimate landscape-scale (approximately 100 km2) fluxes of CO2 from vertical profiles through the convective boundary layer. This project will develop a new CO2 detector based on the measurement of the speed of sound in air. The ultrasonic detector will be highly selective for CO2 and have a precision of one part in 3000 or better, corresponding to a detection limit of 0.1 ppmv. To compliment the new CO2 detector, a small, lightweight calibration system also will be developed. In Phase I, an ultrasonic detector for gas chromatography was modified, using a scrubber, to be selective for CO2. It was determined that, over a wide operating range, the signal was independent of pressure and flow rate. The best precision was obtained at the lowest flow rate (5 cc/min) and highest pressure (60 psig). Using measurements of real air samples, the instrument was compared with a conventional CO2 analyzer and found to agree to within 0.3 ?0.3 ppmv. In Phase II, a new, miniaturized, ultrasonic detector, specific for measurements of CO2 mixing ratios, will be developed and tested. The sample and reference cells will be in thermal contact to greatly reduce temperature effects on precision and accuracy. The new instrument will be compared with conventional instrumentation at ground monitoring sites and aboard research aircraft. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The ultrasonic detector should result in two commercial products: (1) a new ultrasonic detector for atmospheric measurements with high precision and accuracy, and (2) a portable calibration system, which does not require compressed gas cylinders, for CO2 measurements.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2003
DOE