SBIR Phase I: Anti-Microbial Graphene Oxide Nanofiltration Membrane

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力来自于设计废水处理可重复使用的纳滤膜平台的能力。节能和有效的废水处理用于水净化和再利用仍然是一个巨大的挑战，因为安全可靠的方法往往是资本和能源密集型的。从废水中生产用于城市或工业再利用的清洁水需要去除各种有机和无机污染物，包括许多有害和有毒物质（例如农药、重金属、药品等）。聚合物膜与各种水污染物的高污染倾向导致能源成本更高。防止污染和实现低能量要求的高污染物截留仍然是膜过滤废水处理的两个核心挑战。提出的技术将通过使用防污表面化学物质来解决这两个核心挑战。该膜的低能耗、抗污染和抗污染特性使其成为一项颠覆性创新，可以很容易地渗透市场，提供当前膜净化系统所缺乏的经济有效的解决方案。这个SBIR一期项目建议开发一种纳滤技术，利用表面化学修饰来创建一种抗污染膜，以排斥农药。美国每年在农药上花费近90亿美元，占世界农药市场的16%。在农药中最常见的25种有效成分中，76%是水溶性的，这会导致土壤、地下水和附近水体受到污染。本项目的目的是去除水中常见的商业农药，同时研究防污膜表面的有利作用。膜的性能将通过交叉流过滤实验来研究，以确定截留，稳定性和抗污染性能。愿景是创造一种纳滤膜，具有广泛的污染物过滤，同时降低能源需求和污染。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project results from the ability to design a reusable nanofiltration membrane platform for wastewater treatment. Energy-efficient and effective wastewater treatment for water purification and reuse remains a tremendous challenge because safe and reliable approaches are often capital and energy intensive. The production of clean water from wastewater for municipal or industrial reuse requires the removal of a wide range of organic and inorganic contaminants, including many hazardous and toxic substances (e.g., pesticides, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, etc.). Energy costs are driven even higher by the high fouling propensity of polymeric membranes with the wide array of water contaminants. Preventing fouling and enabling high contaminant rejection with low energy requirements remain the two core challenges of membrane filtration for wastewater treatment. The proposed technology will address the two core challenges through the use of an anti-fouling surface chemistry. The low energy requirements, contaminant rejection, and anti-fouling properties of the proposed membrane make it a disruptive innovation that can easily penetrate the market, providing a cost-effective solution that is lacking in current membrane purification systems.This SBIR Phase I project proposes to develop a nanofiltration technology utilizing surface chemistry modification for the creation of an anti-fouling membrane for the rejection of pesticides. The United States spends nearly $9 billion a year on pesticides, which account for 16% of the world pesticide market. Out of the 25 most common active ingredients in pesticides, 76% are water soluble, which leads to contaminated soil, groundwater, and nearby bodies of water. The objectives of this project are to remove common commercial pesticides from water while investigating the advantageous effects of an anti-fouling membrane surface. Performance of the membrane will be investigated through cross flow filtration experiments to identify rejection, stability, and anti-fouling properties. The vision is to create a nanofiltration membrane with a broad contaminant rejection while decreasing energy requirements and fouling.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.