SBIR Phase I: Measuring Aqueous Metal Concentrations with the Chemometer

SBIR 第一阶段：使用化学计测量水相金属浓度

• 批准号: 1415655
• 负责人: Daniel Miller-Lionberg
• 金额: $ 15万
• 依托单位: Access Sensor Technologies
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-07-01 至 2014-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1415655&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Measuring; Aqueous; Metal

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.

该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力集中在使用简单、无动力技术测量水中有毒金属浓度的能力。金属是一类重要的水污染物，其来源多种多样，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，例如：镍、铬、铁和锌（等等）。这些法规在很大程度上推动了环境水质市场领域的发展，其中我们将首先瞄准采矿、能源生产和废物管理领域。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整个生命周期中分析大量样本。我们的技术简单且廉价，因此可以进行更频繁的监测，以更好地保护关键水源免受污染。 这项技术的长期影响是显着降低保护和监测我国水资源所需的成本。这个小型企业创新研究 (SBIR) 第一阶段项目将开发一种针对水中金属的新颖、敏感的技术。这项技术称为化学计，价格低廉且便于携带，不需要电源，也不需要外部读取设备。目前，定量水中的金属需要使用大型、昂贵的实验室设备，每个样品的成本为 100 美元。当前的便携式测量系统（尤其是 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）简单、便携式、无电源的测量工具，能够快速现场定量水中的金属。我们的方法将大大降低成本并且易于使用。该化学计采用创新的屏障印刷技术在普通滤纸上制成。试剂在纸上选择性地图案化，以选择性且灵敏地测量水中的金属。测定完成后，只需测量化学计上有色区域的长度即可量化金属浓度。化学计是便携式的（并且是一次性的），使得在各种资源匮乏的地方进行流边测量都是可行的。