This award is for the establishment of an Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Emission Reduction Research Center (ERRC) at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). The focus of the ERRC research is on reducing pollution in "batch processing" on manufacturing typically used by pharmaceutical and the specialty chemicals industry. Some of the planned research projects at the Center include: novel amphiphillic star polymers as solvents for emission control in the pharmaceutical industry; novel ceramic membranes for VOC Separation and AI system for process design and performance monitoring etc. A comprehensive solvent database will also be built to assist optimum solvent selection and experiment with solvent replacement opportunities where organic solvent systems potentially can be replaced with aqueous or neat systems. Besides NJIT, the Ohio State University, Penn State and MIT will also participate in the research program of the I/UCRC. The Program Manager recommends New Jersey Institute of Technology be award $50,000 for the first year of a five-year continuing award. Near the end of each 12-month period the Program Manager and/or the Division Director of the Engineering Education Centers Division will review the progress of the Center on a number of renewal criteria, including the following: 1) the extent to which the university/industry interaction is developing; 2) extent to which the support base is developing; and 3) the extent to which a collaborative, robust research program is developing. If the review is satisfactory, the Program Manager will recommend support for the next period of this continuing award.
