Rapid Fluorescent Assays for Coliforms and BOD in Shipboard Wastewater Navy SBIR FY2008.1 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2008.1 Topic No.: N08-069 Topic Title: Rapid Fluorescent Assays for Coliforms and BOD in Shipboard Wastewater Proposal No.: N081-069-0659 Firm: Luna Innovations Incorporated 1 Riverside Circle Suite 400 Roanoke, Virginia 24016 Contact: Katie Sucre Phone: (540) 769-8400 Web Site: www.lunainnovations.com Abstract: One challenge encountered during long-term travel aboard marine vessels in coastal waters is the treatment, storage, and discharge of wastewater. To minimize discharging harmful waste into the environment, all marine vessels with toilets must have a marine sanitation device (MSD) to process wastewater, rendering it harmless. The two key indicators of the quality of treated wastewater are fecal bacteria (measured as fecal coliform content, or FCC) and organic material (measured as biological oxygen demand, BOD). However, the standard methods for measuring these are laborious and require one and five days, respectively. In order to monitor the performance of MSDs and minimize storage of treated waste, more expeditious FCC and BOD assays are needed. During the proposed Phase I, Luna will identify and develop rapid fluorescent bioassays for accurately predicting and measuring these key indicators in MSD effluent. The assays will be based on the use of fluorescent markers for measuring bacterial metabolism of, i) fecal bacteria for determination of FCC and ii) bacterial seed consortia for determination of BOD. In preparation for Phase II, during the Phase I Option Luna will begin formatting select assays into kits for simple use with a hand held fluorometer onboard marine vessels. Benefits: Successful development of rapid fluorescent assays to measure effluent FCC and BOD would be of significant interest to commercial and other military industries. For example, the cruise ship industry is currently under very strict wastewater treatment regulations in specific ports of certain states, such as Alaska and California. Quick detection of high effluent concentrations of FCC and BOD5 would help, i) minimize wastewater storage capacity, ii) reduce risks to the environment resulting from improperly treated wastewater and iii) lower the financial risks due to fines and business loss. As with the Navy, some military vessels such as US Army tugboats and US Coast Guard buoy tenders also have MSDs installed that must conform to wastewater treatment regulations. Return