Below are several case studies which illustrate the types of services ATI has provided to its clients in the chemical area. These cases provide good examples of how ATI differentiates itself from conventional database and information service providers. In each case, ATI quickly moved beyond traditional vendor searches and developed unique, custom search strategies and telephoned dozens and dozens of sources to find just the desired solution.
Diesel Fuel Combustion Particulate Elimination
A small Ohio firm successfully completed an initial feasibility study and went on to provide a catalytic solution for the elimination/reduction of soot and particulate from diesel fuel combustion. The Sponsor was under pressure to make modifications to its diesel engines to meet EPA clean air requirements.
Flame Retardant Polypropylene
This small Connecticut firm successfully completed an R&D program in which they developed a flame retardant polypropylene formulation for wire and cable applications. The Sponsor was pleased with the project and, as a result, entered into a new contract with this small firm for the development of flame retardant formulations for appliances.
Mechanism of Methane Monooxygenase
University scientists completed a two-year project in which they sought to determine the mechanism of the methane monooxygenase reaction, especially the actual substrate oxygenation step. Specific tasks included attempts to stabilize the enzyme, investigation of possible suicide substrates, chemical modification, and exploration of the possibility that 02 could be replaced by other oxidants.
Production of Aromatic Compounds with Fluorine Substituents
The sponsor sought a versatile and practical chemical route to selectively produce aromatic compounds with fluorine substituents which would be adaptable to commercial operation and be more economical than current processes. University scientists developed two novel chemical routes. One of these begins with fluorine-containing building blocks (2-fluoro-1,3-diketones) from which aromatic products are constructed. Other routes entail introducing fluorine into aromatic substrates via aryl flouoro diazenes and via fluoro Pummerer reactions. Until these university scientists' work on introducing fluorine into the 2-position of 1,3-diketones, there had been no general method for obtaining these fluorinated derivatives and only a few rare examples of such compounds had been reported.
Toxic Air Contaminant Sensing Monitor
Sponsor was interested in obtaining available sensor systems for the detection of various toxic air contaminants (benzene, acrylonitrile, toluene) about the perimeter of such sources as power plants, waste-to-energy plants and chemical and petrochemical process plants. The instrument inhales and samples contaminants 40 times per second. The threshold response to organic chemicals ranges from fractional parts-per-billion to parts-per-trillion, for a response time of seconds. This small Florida company and Sponsor worked out a lease-purchase arrangement for the firm's Phemto-Chem¨ Ion Mobility Spectrometer Monitor. The machine has performed well and met Sponsor's requirements.
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