Physical Optics Corporation — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: To address the Navy"s need for a shipboard cardboard preprocessor, Physical Optics Co

Description

To address the Navy"s need for a shipboard cardboard preprocessor, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop the new Millstone-Augmented SHipboard Elemental Reducer (MASHER) system. MASHER continuously reduces cardboard waste to its basic constituents (paper, plastic, etc.), followed by automatic triboelectrostatic sorting of the sub-millimeter-sized constituents. Our innovation in solid waste preprocessing virtually eliminates manual labor because Sailors will only need to drop in entire boxes, instead of manually cutting them up and removing labels one at a time also greatly reducing Sailor injuries. The high separation efficiency, estimated at 92%, also reduces the burden on pulpers. As a result, MASHER offers fully automated removal of plastic and metal from the cardboard waste stream, processing rates up to 500 lb/hr, and handling of cardboard boxes up to 65 in. x 43 in. x 36 in., which directly address the Non-Propulsion Engineering Systems Office"s (PMS-312) requirements. In Phase I, POC will demonstrate the feasibility of MASHER by building a prototype and clearly defining the system"s size, cost, processing rate (speed), labor burden, and support requirements, for shipboard applications. In Phase II, a formal test and evaluation plan will be documented and applied to a second-generation prototype to ensure MASHER shipboard compatibility.