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

该小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目旨在增强和融合多种技术中的最佳技术，以实现高度灵敏和灵活的颗粒物（PM）尺寸和成分测量系统。 如果成功的话，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采样，使用光散射测量颗粒大小，并使用激光引发等离子体测量颗粒。 所设想的系统将克服与激光诱导击穿光谱（LIBS）气溶胶测量的可变性和不确定性的问题。 其目标是提供高精度的粗颗粒物和细颗粒物的测量，作为用于烟囱和/或环境监测的连续排放监测器（CEM）。 长期的商业目标是一个坚固的，低维护的设备，显着降低成本，目前可用的实时系统。 如果成功，该项目的更广泛/商业影响是一种工具的可用性，该工具将满足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，同时量化特定的粗颗粒和细颗粒，这对未来的EPA法规很重要。 这样的工具将使研究支持EPA法规更严格的排放控制。 此外，该工具还可以是CEM，用于危险废物处理、发电和其他工业应用中的强制执行和过程控制。

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.