This SBIR Phase II project completes the design, construction, and testing of the largest readily portable Supersaturated Dissolved Oxygen (SDOXTM) injection system developed in smaller scale in Phase I. During the first year of the project, the SDOX will be used to study the effect of dissolved oxygen addition on water quality and fish health in the tailrace of a hydroelectric dam. In the second year of this project, the SDOX will be used in the prevention of spills and remediation of waterbodies impacted by organics and phosphorous. The effects of the SDOX on removing DO as the limiting component in aquatic ecosystems will be studied during all four seasons of the year.
The broader impacts of this research are the ability use of a portable SDOX 400 on aquatic ecosystem restoration that has previously been impractical or impossible. This technology benefits an improved environment for aquatic species, minimized environmental impact from hydroelectric dams, and more economic and efficient wastewater treatment. The technology could positively impact drinking water, recreation, irrigation and other aqueous ecological services important to the public and the environment.
BlueInGreen, LLC of Fayetteville, Arkansas proposed this work as a continuation of a successful Phase I project which allowed for the design and manufacture of the first full-scale Supersaturated Dissolved Oxygen (SDOX®) system. In addition, multiple effective pilot tests were conducted leading to the first commercial sale. The SDOX® utilizes the company’s patented and patents-pending technology to add high levels of dissolved oxygen to impaired environmental waters. Some of the benefits of adding dissolved oxygen to impaired water bodies are the prevention of the death of large numbers of aquatic species, such as fish, and an increase in the rate of reduction of many types of contaminants in the water. Work under this Phase II project allowed for further product development and commercialization of the SDOX® technology. The objectives of this work focused on proving the benefits of the SDOX® in various ecological applications including oxygenating lakes, reservoirs, and rivers as well as applications in wastewater collection systems. Before conducting field tests at a lake or river, due to the large quantity of water to be treated in those applications, a larger system had to be designed and manufactured. After the larger, portable SDOX® was ready, BlueInGreen was able to test the system’s effectiveness in delivering large quantities of dissolved oxygen. Deployments at multiple lakes and a river were completed with results showing a significant area of the water bodies being affected by higher dissolved oxygen concentrations. This confirmation is significant since there are no current portable technologies that can deliver large enough quantities of dissolved oxygen to be of use in response to emergency spills involving degradable, organic material. Deployments were also conducted in wastewater applications in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the SDOX® in reducing and preventing hydrogen sulfide in wastewater collection systems. Hydrogen sulfide has a strong, foul odor and also causes significant corrosion of wastewater collection system components, reducing their life expectancy and therefore increasing the amount of money cities have to spend to maintain and replace wastewater systems. Hydrogen sulfide is formed in wastewater as the dissolved oxygen level in the water is depleted due to natural processes. The SDOX® was shown to reduce hydrogen sulfide levels almost immediately, eliminating the foul odor and allowing for a longer life cycle of wastewater systems. In short, successful deployments were conducted for the various target applications with results proving both the effectiveness of the SDOX® and the benefits of increased dissolved oxygen levels in impaired water bodies. These deployment results have been validated by multiple commercial sales for ecological and wastewater applications.
