I-Corps: Clean Water by Nature

水质和水资源短缺已被称为“21世纪的决定性危机”，是未来几十年限制水务行业预期增长的挑战和不断增加的法规背后的主要驱动因素。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存在明显的缺点，包括重金属去除的局限性和对化学品的严重依赖。由于水质和水资源短缺的紧迫危机，人们需要更环保、更具成本效益的技术。这个NSF I-Corps团队项目将研究技术的市场前景，其基础研究已经阐明了利用天然材料（如仙人掌植物的粘液）去除水中污染物的作用机制，这些材料具有表面活性。仙人掌粘液是仙人掌植物的粘稠部分，由能够去除水污染物的柔性分子组成。不同的提取方法可以得到不同的仙人掌粘液成分，这些成分通过吸附重金属、絮凝沉淀物、凝固细菌和分散原油中发现的重有机分子来有效去除水污染物。将污染和废水处理到适合有益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将地表水、井水和废水处理到EPA最大污染物水平（MCL）标准。这些技术也为清洁油污提供了一种环保的选择。它们还可以作为一种灾难恢复机制，提供流动处理单元和应急水净化包。这些技术是天然的、可生物降解的、可堆肥的，并且提供了使用仙人掌提取物的经济实惠的水净化方法，这将阻止水瓶的扩散，并将通过减少大量的、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.