STTR Phase I: Chemical Sensors for In situ Monitoring of Collector Chemicals in Complex Copper Mine Effluents

STTR 第一阶段：用于原位监测复杂铜矿废水中捕收剂化学品的化学传感器

• 批准号: 0930087
• 负责人: Jon Thompson
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: United Science LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-07-01 至 2010-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0930087&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: STTR; Phase; Chemical; Sensors; situ

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project addresses unmet analysis needs of froth flotation, a separations process widely used in the mining industry to separate worthless gangue from desired mineral particles. The goal of this Phase I is the preparation of sensors that permit the measurement of collector chemicals used in flotation suspensions. Our proposed sensors are expected to be ideally suited for these measurements since they are not affected by turbidity, have a collector selectivity that can be tuned with specific receptors, and require no off-stream sample handling. The project will take advantage of the highly selective and fouling-resistant fluorous perfluoropolymer membranes introduced by the academic partner Phil Buhlmann. The broader impacts of this research are significant as it will enable the mining industry to be more sustainable in its approach to mineral recovery. Specifically, our research aims to significantly reduce the amount of toxic chemical waste associated with froth flotation and its inevitable environmental impact. The method has the potential of making the US copper industry more competitive by saving over $200 M in wasted collector while simultaneously improving mining sustainability by eliminating an estimated 891,000 kg of unnecessary chemical discharges. In addition to these benefits, the multidisciplinary aspects of this project will train students in synthetic and analytical techniques, involving concepts from chemistry, materials science, and engineering. A graduate student will have the opportunity to mentor an undergraduate students involved in this project through directed research studies and through the NSF-REU programs at the UMN.

该奖项是根据2009年的《美国回收与再投资法》（公法111-5）资助的。本小型企业技术转移（STTR）I阶段项目解决了未满足的分析需求，这是矿业中广泛使用的分离过程，可将毫无价值的脉动与所需的矿物颗粒分开。该阶段I的目的是制备传感器，该传感器允许测量用于浮选悬浮液中的收集器化学物质。我们提出的传感器预计将非常适合这些测量值，因为它们不受浊度的影响，具有可以用特定受体调整的收集器选择性，并且不需要流过式的样品处理。该项目将利用学术合作伙伴Phil Buhlmann引入的高度选择性和抗污染性的易感荧光聚合物膜。这项研究的更广泛影响很大，因为它将使采矿业在矿产恢复的方法中更具可持续性。 具体而言，我们的研究旨在显着减少与泡沫浮选相关的有毒化学废物量及其不可避免的环境影响。该方法具有通过节省超过200 m的浪费收藏家来使美国铜业更具竞争力的潜力，同时通过消除估计891,000公斤不必要的化学排放来改善采矿可持续性。 除这些好处外，该项目的多学科方面还将培训学生的合成和分析技术，涉及化学，材料科学和工程学的概念。研究生将有机会通过指导研究和UMN的NSF-REU计划指导参与该项目的本科生。