SBIR Phase I: Design and Development of a Comprehensive Instrument for Measurement of Aerosol Size and Elemental Composition

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目旨在加强和融合几种技术的精华，以实现一个高度敏感和灵活的测量系统，用于颗粒物（PM）的大小和组成。如果成功，这项研究将建立一种设备的可行性，该设备将在环境压力下对气溶胶颗粒进行取样，利用光散射对颗粒进行大小测量，并使用激光引发的等离子体对颗粒进行测量。设想的系统将克服激光诱导击穿光谱（LIBS）气溶胶测量的可变性和不确定性问题。目标是提供高度精确的粗PM和细PM测量，作为堆栈和/或环境监测的连续排放监测仪（CEM）。长期的商业目标是一种坚固、低维护的设备，与目前可用的实时系统相比，它的成本显著降低。如果这个项目取得成功，其更广泛的商业影响是提供一种工具，可以解决持续监测城市固体废物和危险废物燃烧设施的金属排放的迫切需要，同时量化指定的粗颗粒物和细颗粒物，这对未来的EPA法规很重要。这种工具将使研究能够支持环境保护署更严格的排放控制条例。此外，该工具还可以作为CEM，用于危险废物处理、发电和其他工业应用中的执法和过程控制。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project aims to enhance and fuse the best of several technologies to achieve a highly sensitive and flexible measurement system for both size and composition of particulate matter (PM). If successful, this research will establish the feasibility of a device that will sample aerosol particles at ambient pressure, size particles using light scattering, and measure particles using a laser-initiated plasma. The envisioned system will overcome the problems with variability and uncertainty associated with aerosol measurements by Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS). The goal is to provide highly accurate measurements of both coarse and fine PM as a continuous emission monitor (CEM) for stack and/or ambient monitoring. The longer term commercial goal is a rugged, low maintenance device with a significant cost reduction over currently available real-time systems. The broader/commercial impact of this project, if successful, is the availability of a tool that will address an immediate need to continuously monitor metal emissions from municipal solid waste and hazardous waste combustion facilities, while quantifying speciated coarse and fine PM, important for future EPA regulations. Such a tool will enable research in support of EPA regulations for more stringent emission control. Furthermore, the tool can also be a CEM used for enforcement as well as process control in hazardous waste treatment, power generation, and other industrial applications.