CATALYZEH2O, LLC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase II: A18-011

Description

Energetic compounds have contaminated water at munitions production and load and pack facilities, with the potential to impact the environment and water sources. Chemicals such as 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) and 1,3,5-Trinitro-1,3,5-triazinane (RDX) pose a risk to the health of humans, livestock, wildlife, and ecosystems. Recently, TNT and RDX were classified as potential human carcinogens and were restricted to a 2.0 µg/L health advisory limit. Catalyst embedded Nanoporous Materials (CNpMs) were shown to be a chemically robust and tunable platform for detection, sequestration, and remediation of energetic compounds in CatalyzeH2O’s Phase I work. We propose to optimize the catalytic platform developed during Phase I for optimized performance, where precursor chemistry and metal center metrics will be varied. We will determine how each characteristic affects the electrochemical kinetics and degradation of TNT and RDX in synthetic wastewater and real wastewater. Mechanochemical synthesis will be further optimized to scale CNpM synthesis and produce a minimum viable product at a 100x scale, as compared to the previously reported level of fabrication in Phase I. At the end of this Phase II project, we expect to have identified and adequately scaled an MVP that can effectively degrade energetic compounds in real production water samples.