CAREER: Integrating Research and Education on Arsenic Removal from Drinking Water

砷是一种有毒、致癌的类金属，对人类健康构成重大威胁。与美国新政府会晤的潜在成本非常高。S.环境保护局的标准要求开发更经济有效的除砷方法。本CAREER提案的研究目标是开发一种创新的除砷工艺，使用铁基材料（IBM）作为吸附剂，使用膜增强吸附。假设是膜诱导的浓差极化效应将使砷物种集中在浓差极化层中，并且较高的砷浓度将导致更多的吸附到铁基材料上。由于减少了化学品的使用，延长了反冲洗之间的操作时间，以及减少了处理和处置的废物，因此拟议的系统可以显著节省砷处理的成本。 实验和建模工作将完成，以选择最合适的膜和颗粒铁基材料，和一个实验室规模的试点系统将进行优化，有效的砷去除和成本analysis.The综合职业教育活动的重点是K-12科学教师培训的新墨西哥州通过一个综合的教学，研究，课程开发计划。在新墨西哥州，迫切需要为那些来自科学和工程领域历史上代表性不足的群体或那些教这些群体学生的人提供科学教师培训。由于科学和工程是最好的教授给K-12科学教师和他们的学生通过动手，调查为基础的经验，实验室和实地项目砷测量和治疗将作为该计划的一部分实施。此外，新墨西哥州理工学院的少数民族本科生和研究生比例很高。虽然所有学生都将受益于研究参与，但职业支持将为历史上代表性不足的少数民族学生提供科学和工程方面急需的研究机会。

Arsenic is a toxic and carcinogenic metalloid that presents a major human health threat. The potentially very high cost of meeting the new U. S. Environmental Protection Agency standard necessitates the development of more cost-effective methods for arsenic removal.The research objective of this CAREER proposal is to develop an innovative arsenic removal process using membrane-enhanced sorption with iron-based materials (IBM) as sorbents. The hypothesis is that membrane-induced concentration polarization effects will concentrate arsenic species in the concentration polarization layer and the higher arsenic concentration will result in more sorption onto an iron-based material. The proposed system could result in significant cost savings for arsenic treatment due to less chemical use, prolonged operation between backwashes, and less wastes for handling and disposal. Experimental and modeling work will be completed in order to select the most suitable membrane and a particulate iron-based material, and a bench-scale pilot system will be optimized for effective arsenic removal and cost analysis.The integrated CAREER educational activities focus on K-12 science teacher training for the State of New Mexico through an integrated teaching-research-curriculum development program. Science teacher training for those from historically underrepresented groups in science and engineering or those who teach students from those groups is critically needed in New Mexico. Since science and engineering are best taught to the K-12 science teachers and their students through hands-on, inquiry-based experiences, laboratory and field projects on arsenic measurement and treatment will be implemented as part of the program. In addition, New Mexico Tech has a high percentage of minority undergraduate and graduate students. While all students would benefit form research participation, the CAREER support will provide historically underrepresented minority students with critically-needed research opportunities in science and engineering.