The Navy faces the complex task of efficiently managing diverse material streams, either generated as operational byproducts or at the end of their service life. The Materials Treatment and Recovery program ensures their appropriate treatment and recovery. This initiative seeks cutting-edge processes and materials that can reduce sustainment, logistics, and operational overhead while enhancing operational flexibility in diverse environments. Traditional land-based methods for materials management, such as incineration, secure landfilling, and mechanical-biological treatment can be large scale, energy intensive, and labor intensive requiring significant infrastructure and specialized personnel. These methods often lack the necessary portability and adaptability required for naval operations. Because of the Navy’s unique operational requirements, including limited space and resources at sea, operational flexibility and modularity are key. Therefore, the introduction of innovative technologies is crucial to decrease operational expenses, allocate personnel for mission-critical tasks, and minimize logistical requirements by reducing the frequency and cost of material resupply.
Research Concentration Areas
Materials and processes to enhance treatment by reducing the volume and impact of Navy-generated byproducts, including the development of novel catalysts, sorbents and membranes
Materials and processes to improve recovery of critical materials, including the development of selective extraction and separation techniques.
Research Challenges and Opportunities
Materials and processes that improve the efficiency, selectivity or treatment of compounds from complex matrices
Scalable and adaptable processes that enable efficient critical materials recovery onboard naval platforms and at remote locations
Novel materials to reduce cleaning and maintenance requirements
Novel materials and processes that improve disinfection.
How to Submit
For detailed application and submission information for this research topic, please refer to our broad agency announcement (BAA) No. N0001425SB001.
Contracts: All white papers and full proposals for contracts must be submitted through the ONR Submission Portal; instructions are included in the BAA.
Grants: All white papers for grants must be submitted through the ONR Submission Portal, and full proposals for grants must be submitted through grants.gov; instructions are included in the BAA.