BlueInGreen Receives $500,000 Grant from National Science Foundation
FAYETTEVILLE, AR (November 19, 2008) – BlueInGreen recently received a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to test cost-effective dissolved oxygen injection for aquatic ecosystem restoration.
The company developed the supersaturated dissolved oxygen delivery systems (SDOXTM) for a variety of applications, and SDOX systems have been shown to perform better and cost less than competing technologies for oxygenation of wastewater effluent. BlueInGreen now plans to apply its SDOX technology to another persistent problem: oxygenation of water in hydroelectric reservoirs and tailrace rivers. Oxygen problems in reservoirs occur during the summer because the cold, deeper waters do not circulate to the surface and become very low in dissolved oxygen (DO). Since the tailrace rivers exiting a dam often flow from the depths of a reservoir, these rivers can also experience seasonal problems with low DO. These problems have been well documented at Norfork Dam located in North Central Arkansas. Low DO adversely affects trout fishing in Norfork River and has caused the river to be placed on the Environmental Protection Agencies’ 303(d) list for impaired water bodies. The Norfork River is just one example of a multitude of waterways across the nation and world that are impaired by low DO.
BlueInGreen has designed and constructed two mobile SDOX units using funds from NSF. These SDOX units will be used to study the effects of dissolved oxygen injection at several locations during the Fall of 2008. The study will be conducted in the water flowing from the Dam into Norfork National Fish Hatchery. SDOX will be used to add dissolved oxygen to some of the raceways at the hatchery to allow for side-by-side comparison with raceways that are not treated with SDOX. Improvements to water quality and overall effects on fish health will be documented. A second study will be conducted to document SDOX injection into the Norfork River directly below the dam during conditions of low flow. The goal of this experiment will be to maintain a dissolved oxygen concentration of 6 mg/L in Norfork River since this is the concentration of dissolved oxygen mandated by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality. Capital and operating costs of the SDOX system and traditional technologies will be determined and compared.
Dr. Scott Osborn, Chief Technology Officer of BlueInGreen, is excited about the upcoming deployments at Norfork, “We think that these deployments will show that the SDOX system is the technology of choice for cost-effective addition of dissolved oxygen to reservoirs, rivers and fish rearing facilities. We are confident that BlueInGreen has the best available process to solve the problems at Norfork and at similar facilities across the nation.”
For more information about BlueInGreen or the NSF grant, contact Anna McCain at 479-527-6378 or anna.mccain@blueingreen.biz.
About the National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense…" With an annual budget of about $6.06 billion, NSF is the funding source for approximately 20 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by America's colleges and universities. NSF is the only federal agency whose mission includes support for all fields of fundamental science and engineering, except for medical sciences. NSF is tasked with keeping the United States at the leading edge of discovery in areas from astronomy to geology to zoology. So, in addition to funding research in the traditional academic areas, the agency also supports "high-risk, high pay-off" ideas, novel collaborations and numerous projects that may seem like science fiction today, but which the public will take for granted tomorrow. And in every case, NSF ensures that research is fully integrated with education so that today's revolutionary work will also be training tomorrow's top scientists and engineers.
For more information about BlueInGreen, visit www.blueingreen.biz.
