SBIR Phase I: Measuring Aqueous Metal Concentrations with the Chemometer

该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力集中在使用简单的无功耗技术测量水中有毒金属浓度的能力上。金属是一类重要的水污染物，来自各种来源，包括采矿，运输，制造，废物管理和能源生产。美国环保署制定了水质法规，要求定期监测特定金属，如：镍，铬，铁和锌（以及更多）。这些法规在很大程度上推动了环境水质市场部门的发展，我们将首先针对采矿，能源生产和废物管理部门。然而，目前监测有毒金属的成本很高（每个样品数百美元），因为在许多这些地点的整个生命周期中必须分析大量样品。我们的技术简单、便宜，因此可以进行更频繁的监测，以更好地保护重要的供水免受污染。 这项技术的长期影响是保护和监控我们国家所需的显着成本降低？这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将开发一种新颖的，敏感的技术，用于水中的金属。这项技术被称为化学计量器，价格低廉，便于携带，不需要电源，也不需要外部阅读设备。目前，对水中的金属进行定量是使用大型、昂贵的实验室设备进行的，每个样品的成本为100美元。目前的便携式测量系统（最显著的是X射线荧光）不太适合水性样品。因此，需要（和一个可行的市场）存在简单，便携式，无电源的测量工具，使水中的金属的快速现场定量。我们的方法将大大降低成本和简单易用。化学计量器采用创新的屏障印刷技术在普通滤纸上制成。试剂选择性地在纸上形成图案，以提供水中金属的选择性和灵敏度测量。一旦测定完成，通过简单地测量化学计上的有色区域的长度来量化金属浓度。该化学计是便携式的（一次性的），使得在各种资源贫乏的地区进行河边测量变得可行。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project centers on the ability to measure concentrations of toxic metals in water using a simple, power-free technology. Metals represent an important class of water contaminants that come from a variety of sources including mining, transportation, manufacturing, waste management, and energy production. The U.S. EPA has developed water-quality regulations that require periodic monitoring for specific metals, such as: nickel, chromium, iron, and zinc (and many more). These regulations have largely driven the development of the environmental water-quality market sector, within which we will initially target mining, energy production, and waste management segments. At present, however, the cost of monitoring toxic metals is high (hundreds of dollars per sample) given the large numbers of samples that must be analyzed across the life cycle of many of these sites. Our technology is simple and inexpensive and thus will allow for more frequent monitoring to better protect critical water supplies from contamination. The long-term impact from this technology is a significant cost reduction needed to protect and monitor our nation?s water resources.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop a novel, sensitive technology for metals in water. This technology, called the Chemometer, is inexpensive and portable and requires no power and no external reading equipment. Quantifying metals in water is presently done using large, expensive laboratory equipment with costs of $100/sample. Current portable measurement systems (most notably X-Ray Fluorescence) are not well suited to aqueous samples. Thus, a need (and a viable market) exists for simple, portable, power-free measurement tools that enable rapid in-field quantification of metals in water. Our approach will be substantially less expensive and simple to use. The Chemometer is made on ordinary filter paper using innovative barrier printing technology. Reagents are selectively patterned on the paper to give selective and sensitive measurements of metals in water. Quantifying metal concentrations is done by simply measuring the length of a colored region on the Chemometer once the assay is complete. The Chemometer is portable (and disposable), making streamside measurements feasible in all sorts of resource-poor locations.