OPTOWARES INC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: AF183-022

Description

A large proportion of the fuel supply to power military vehicles, turbines, generators, and weapons platforms comes in the form of standard medium distillates such as diesel, jet and turbine fuel. Over the coming years, products such as and related to ultra-low sulfur diesel and biodiesel are expected to meet a significant portion of these fuel needs. These fuel sources are all variously susceptible to microbial contamination and degradation, which exert downstream negative effects upon machinery and readiness. We will develop an all-optical in-situ system for monitoring of bacterial strain growth within fuel, water, and at the fuel:water interface. The system will be autonomous and real-time, with broad fuel and sludge compatibility, and will integrate reporting mechanisms and alarms for excessive bacterial growth or fuel quality degradation. In Phase I we will demonstrate sensitivity to 6 microbes of interest. In Phase II we will broaden the sensitivity of the instrument, and deliver two prototypes to the Air Force for evaluation in-tank and on-line.