I-Corps: Clean Water by Nature

水质和稀缺已被贴上“21世纪决定性危机”的标签，是挑战和不断加强的监管背后的主要驱动力，这些挑战和监管限制了未来几十年水务行业的预期增长。国际报告一致认为，全球用水量每20年翻一番。基于活性污泥法的现代水处理技术有很大的缺点，包括对重金属的去除限制和对化学品的严重依赖。由于水质危机和水资源短缺的迫在眉睫，需要更环保、更具成本效益的技术。这个NSF I-Corps团队项目将研究基于研究的技术的市场前景，这些研究已经阐明了使用具有表面活性的仙人掌植物的粘液等天然材料从水中去除污染物的作用机制。仙人掌粘液是仙人掌植物的粘性部分，由能够去除水污染物的柔性分子组成。不同的提取方法会导致仙人掌粘液的不同部分，这些粘液通过吞噬重金属、絮凝沉积物、凝结细菌和分散重有机分子(如原油中的有机分子)有效地去除水污染物。将污染和废水处理到适合有益的再利用的水平的愿望在市场增长中发挥着越来越大的作用。基于仙人掌粘液的技术有可能处理地下水/地表水、井水和废水，达到美国环保局的最大污染物水平(MCL)标准。这些技术还为清洁油污提供了一种环保的替代方案。它们还可以作为灾难恢复机制，提供流动处理装置和紧急净水工具包。这些技术是天然的、可生物降解的、可堆肥的，并提供了使用仙人掌提取物的负担得起的净水方法，将阻止水瓶的激增，并将通过减少巨大的、不友好的碳和塑料环境足迹来推动过滤市场。

Water quality and scarcity have been labeled "the defining crises of the 21st century" and are the main drivers behind the challenges and increasing regulations that limit the projected growth of the water industry over the coming decades. International reports agree that global water consumption doubles every 20 years. Modern water treatment technologies based on the active sludge method have significant disadvantages, including limitations on heavy metal removal and significant reliance on chemicals. Because of the urgent crisis in water quality and scarcity, greener and more cost-effective technologies are in demand. This NSF I-Corps team project will study the market prospects of technologies based on research that had elucidated the action mechanisms involved in removing contaminants from water using natural materials such as mucilage from cactus plants that are surface active. Cactus mucilage, the gooey part of cactus plants, is composed of flexible molecules capable of removing water pollutants. Different extraction methodologies can lead to different fractions of the cactus mucilage that are effective at removing water pollutants by engulfing heavy metals, flocculating sediments, coagulating bacteria, and dispersing heavy organic molecules such as those found in crude oils. The desire to treat polluted and waste water to a level suitable for beneficial reuse plays an increasing role in market growth. The technologies based on cactus mucilage have the potential to treat ground/surface water, well water, and waste water to EPA maximum contaminant level (MCL) standards. These technologies also provide an eco-friendly alternative for cleaning oil contamination. They also can serve as a disaster recovery mechanism to provide mobile treatment units and emergency water purification kits. These technologies are natural, biodegradable, compostable, and provide affordable methods of water purification using cactus extracts that will stem the tide of water bottle proliferation, and will advance the filtration market by reducing the large, unfriendly carbon and plastic environmental footprints.