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一种简单的、无电力的技术来测量水中有毒金属浓度的能力。金属代表着一类重要的水污染物，它们来自各种来源，包括采矿、运输、制造、废物管理和能源生产。美国环保局已经制定了水质法规，要求对特定金属进行定期监测，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，我们最初将在该部门内瞄准采矿、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(每个样本数百美元)，因为必须在许多这些地点的生命周期中分析大量样本。我们的技术简单且成本低廉，因此可以进行更频繁的监测，以更好地保护关键供水不受污染。这项技术的长期影响是显著降低保护和监测我们国家的S水资源所需的成本。这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目将开发一种新的、敏感的水中金属技术。这项技术被称为化学测定仪，价格低廉，携带方便，不需要电力，也不需要外部读取设备。目前，量化水中的金属是使用大型昂贵的实验室设备完成的，每个样本的成本为100美元。目前的便携式测量系统(最显著的是X射线荧光)不能很好地适用于水溶液样品。因此，对简单、便携、无电力的测量工具的需求(和一个可行的市场)存在，这些工具能够在现场快速量化水中的金属。我们的方法将大大降低成本，使用起来也更简单。化学计是在普通滤纸上使用创新的阻挡打印技术制造的。试剂被选择性地印在纸上，以选择性和灵敏地测量水中的金属。一旦分析完成，只需测量化学分析仪上有色区域的长度，就可以完成对金属浓度的量化。化学测定仪是便携的(和一次性的)，使得在各种资源匮乏的地区进行溪流边测量是可行的。

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.