SBIR Phase I: Laser Assisted Nanotechnology-Sensor For Cost Effective Use In Fish Processing To Determine Mercury Levels In Fish Flesh Or Other Substances

该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将通过测试使用碳纳米管覆盖的传感器的可行性来大幅快速提高环境和食品安全，以电化学检测水或鱼等物质中的汞含量，通过蒸发一小块物质来确定每个样品中的汞含量。 由此产生的技术将扩大到检测其他重金属的含量并商业化。甲基汞对人类健康的影响是毁灭性的。这项工作使Dahl Natural能够弥合实时、远程、自动化重金属检测的差距。这项研究的更广泛的商业影响是能够实时、低成本、准确地测量食品、水和其他物质中的重金属，灵敏度达到500 ppt/L。 这项工作将消除现场测量的许多独特挑战，因此可以开发减少重金属污染的工艺和策略。 这项技术是工业，研究人员，政府机构，部落团体所需要的，并解决了10亿美元的市场。测试需要2-3分钟，来自设备的数据可以打印条形码，标签或以电子方式发送到数据库。该技术的成本节约为每次测试150美元，估计每种金属测试1美元。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will substantially and rapidly increase environmental and food safety by testing the feasibility of using carbon nano-tube covered sensors to electrochemically detect the amount of mercury in substances such as water or fish, by vaporizing a small spot of the substance to determine mercury levels in each sample as it is being processed. The resulting technology will be expanded to detect the amount of other heavy metals and commercialized. The effects of methyl mercury on human health are devastating. This work enables Dahl Natural to bridge the gap for real-time, remote, automated heavy metal testing.The broader commercial impacts of this research are to enable access to real-time, low cost, accurate measurement of heavy metals in food, water and other substances to 500ppt/L sensitivity. This work will eliminate many unique challenges of in-situ measurement so processes and strategies can be developed to reduce heavy metal contamination. This technology is needed by industries, researchers, government agencies, Tribal groups, and addresses a $1 billion market. Testing takes 2-3 minutes and data from the device can be printed for bar codes, tags or sent electronically to a data base. The cost-savings of this technology is $150.00 per test, estimated at $1.00 per metal tested.