EPA announces funding for small, Southern California businesses to develop green technology

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the 19 small business winners of grants to support green economy, which included $200,000 in funding awarded to two Southern Californian companies, Physical Optics Corporation and Waddan Systems LLC.

The grants, issued under the agency’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, allow companies to develop green technology, The 19 winners announced today will receive SBIR Phase I contracts for at most $100,000, but they are eligible to receive a further Pase II contract for up to $300,000.

Physical Optics, which is located in Torrance, California, will use the funding to work on its Regenerative Capacitive Electro-Desalination System (RECED), which converts seawater and brackish water into drinking water in a cost-effective manner. Waddan Systems will put its grant towards its Multi Air Pollutant Lab-On-A-Chip (MAPLOC), a microelectromechanical sensor that can detect and monitor air pollutants and volatile organic compounds.

“Southern California continues to experience poor air quality and is now faced with a historic drought,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s regional administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “These small businesses are singlehandedly working on new technologies to help find solutions to these environmental issues while strengthening the economy.”

EPA testimony statements are available at www.epa.gov.