SBIR Phase I: More Effective Power Plant Water Monitoring by Online Microfluidic Electro-Chromatography with Conductivity Detection Technology

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This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop a prototype online ion monitor for more efficient and cost effective management of water resources in the power industry. The industry currently lacks instrumentation that can both monitor ions below 10 g/L concentrations and be operated in an automated near-real time fashion. Instrumentation that could address this need would allow power plant operators significantly better control of precious ultrapure water resources. This project will create a prototype instrument capable of sub g/L detection of four target anions most interesting to the industry. Advanced MicroLabs, LLC will design, construct, and test an automated prototype device allowing sub g/L detection of target anions free of environmental contamination. Creation of this proof-of-concept prototype would represent a development milestone demonstrating the utility and ultimately allowing on-site testing. The broader/commercial impacts of this research are water quality monitoring through ion analysis has become approximately a $500 million market globally in the power industry alone. Yet there still exists a market need for instrumentation that can both monitor in an automated, online fashion and with low sensitivity. Indeed, the power industry?s research institute, EPRI, has spent $ Millions in research money over the last 10 years, attempting to address this need with limited success. Advanced MicroLabs, LLC offers an alternative technology. Based on industry feedback, the device created in this project would result in more effective water monitoring, providing total annual water savings of 174 Million gallons and cost savings of $522k at a typical power plant