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

STTR 第二阶段：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: 1058472
• 负责人: Jon Thompson
• 金额: $ 50万
• 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: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-02-15 至 2013-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1058472&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: STTR; Phase; II; Chemical; Sensors

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II 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. Phase I work has demonstrated the preparation of sensor membranes that permit the measurement of collector chemicals used in flotation suspensions. These sensors have been shown to be ideally suited for these measurements since they are not affected by turbidity, have high selectivity for collectors, 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 Phase II project will optimize the sensing membrane characteristics to improve ion conduction and robustness. It will also assess the factors that affect sensor lifetime and engineer several prototypes to test at mining operations.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, the 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 U.S. copper industry more competitive by reducing wasted collector while simultaneously improving mining sustainability by eliminating an estimated 24 tons 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.

这个小型企业技术转移（STTR）第二阶段项目解决了泡沫浮选的未满足分析需求，这是一个在采矿行业广泛使用的分离过程，可将毫无价值的螺栓与所需的矿物质颗粒分开。 第一阶段的工作证明了传感器膜的制备，该膜允许测量用于浮选悬浮液中的收集器化学物质。 这些传感器已被证明非常适合这些测量值，因为它们不受浊度的影响，对收集器具有很高的选择性，并且不需要流过的样品处理。 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。 II期项目将优化传感膜特性，以改善离子传导和稳健性。 它还将评估影响传感器寿命的因素和工程师在采矿作业时进行测试的几种原型。这项研究的更广泛影响很大，因为它将使采矿业在其矿产恢复的方法中更具可持续性。 具体而言，该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。 该方法具有通过减少浪费的收集器来使美国铜业更具竞争力的潜力，同时通过消除估计的24吨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。