Knoxville, Tenn.-Applied Science Products Inc. (ASP) has been awarded two Phase One Small Business Innovative Research Grants, which includes nearly $90,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) for research into sustainable nitric acid production using non-thermal plasma. “Research under the NIFA grant will apply a novel approach to producing nitric acid, a key component in nitrogen fertilizer, using our proprietary plasma process to chemically activate nitrogen molecules found in air,” reported ASP CEO Kenneth Wood. “The objective is to develop an important new clean technology for producing nitrogen fertilizer without the requirement for a natural gas feedstock, thereby reducing the agricultural impact on global warming and eliminating an important source of price volatility in agricultural products.” Wood also noted that ASP has received a $104,280 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to apply the use of low temperature plasma decontamination systems to provide a novel means of reducing microbial populations on fresh produce.
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