I-Corps: Clean Water by Nature

水质和水资源短缺被称为“21世纪世纪的决定性危机”，是挑战和日益严格的法规背后的主要驱动力，这些法规限制了未来几十年水行业的预期增长。国际报告一致认为，全球水消费量每20年翻一番。基于活性污泥法的现代水处理技术具有显著的缺点，包括对重金属去除的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紧迫性，需要更环保和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，这些研究阐明了使用天然材料（如仙人掌植物的粘液）去除水中污染物的作用机制。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。不同的提取方法可以导致仙人掌粘液的不同部分，这些部分通过吞噬重金属、沉积物、细菌和分散原油中发现的重有机分子来有效地去除水污染物。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处理地下水/地表水，井水和废水达到EPA最大污染物水平（MCL）标准。这些技术还为清洁油污染提供了一种环保的替代方案。它们还可以作为灾后恢复机制，提供移动的处理装置和应急水净化包。这些技术是天然的，可生物降解的，可堆肥的，并提供了负担得起的水净化方法，使用仙人掌提取物，这将阻止水瓶扩散的浪潮，并将通过减少大的，不友好的碳和塑料环境足迹来推进过滤市场。

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.