Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer

StrataSampler ™ Device
The StrataSampler^TM, developed at Savannah River National Laboratory, is an environmental characterization and remediation tool. Its primary function is to collect soil gas and water samples quickly and inexpensively as part of the process of monitoring and remediating underground contamination. The device makes it possible to simultaneously collect discrete samples from multiple depths within a single monitoring well. This lowers drilling costs, shortens drilling time, and minimizes the volume of contaminated soil brought to the surface during drilling. Contaminated soil must be treated as hazardous waste and disposed of carefully. Reducing hazardous waste handling also minimizes personnel exposure to contaminated material during drilling and treatment.

StrataSampler development was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Environmental Management. Best Environmental Subsurface Sampling Technologies, Inc. (BESST) signed a nonexclusive license for the StrataSampler. BESST, a small business with facilities in San Rafael, Calif., and Golden, Colo., provides groundwater sampling technologies and services, subsurface monitoring systems and geological probes. Industries served are environmental, water resources, geotechnical, nuclear waste storage and oceanography. The company planned to reintroduce the StrataSampler with newly integrated components that make the system more efficient, allow for more sampling ports and permit deeper installations.

Technology for the Environmentally Sustainable Treatment of Livestock Manure
The technology developed by the Coastal Plains, Soil, Water & Plant Research Center has changed the thinking about manure management and disposal in modern livestock production. The technology is an innovative wastewater treatment system for animal waste that efficiently removes ammonia, phosphorus, heavy metals, odors, and pathogens. In addition, it generates value-added organic fertilizer and carbon credits along with increased animal productivity.

The technology addressed one of the nation's greatest environmental problems-the cleanup and disposal of manure from swine-production wastewater. It provided the State of North Carolina, the U.S., and world with a technology that would meet criteria for "environmentally superior technology" (EST). Challenges included atmospheric emissions, excessive nutrients, pathogens, odors, and affordability of treatment. It was demonstrated for the first time that an EST exists that can solve all these problems.

For this reason, the General Assembly of North Carolina established a Lagoon Conversion Program to assist farmers with the conversion of lagoons to the EST. This effort not only upgraded existing swine production facilities to a cleaner technology, but also allowed for expansion of the industry while reducing its environmental impact. Another benefit of the technology is improved animal productivity and health. In addition, it dramatically reduces greenhouse gases emitted from swine operations. It was found that replacing the lagoon with the new technology reduced greenhouse-gas emissions by 97% or 1.1 tons of carbon dioxide equivalents per pig. This indicates that the system may have a role in carbon trading markets, which allow farmers to earn money based on the emission reductions using lagoon alternative technologies. Other beneficiaries of this technology are swine and dairy producers, their neighbors, industrialists, entrepreneurs, policy makers, environmental and health regulators, and the general public.