I-Corps Teams: Integration of Non-Equilibrium Gliding Arc Plasma into Hydroponic Produce Growth Systems for Improved Crop Health and Added Nutrients

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是植物纯度的新标准，它可以为全球数百万消费者带来巨大的积极健康后果。我们建议的水培系统中使用的冷等离子体水净化和浓缩技术可以扩展到农业的其他领域，因为血浆中产生的抗微生物化学物质可以迅速杀死病原体，对植物和动物都是安全的。这项技术带来的潜在好处可以帮助垂直农民在世界各地的城市中心消除靠太阳能供电的粮食短缺挑战。鉴于人类面临着迫在眉睫的、重大的和正在加速的农业可持续发展和水资源保护问题，这项技术有可能在帮助保护和维持我们所知的地球上的生命方面发挥重要作用。此外，灌溉所需水量的减少和用等离子处理水处理的植物产量的增加也支持了等离子处理在各种农业和植树造林工作中的应用。最后，该公司的一个雄心勃勃的目标是在电力以外资源极其有限的环境中实施这项技术，例如长期的太空任务。这个i-Corps项目将使公司能够更好地了解公司潜在客户的需求，以及等离子技术如何为商业农业市场提供解决方案，同时为水培农业行业的成员提供技术洞察力，并为他们现有的农业系统和实践提供重大改进的机会。通过这些等离子技术商业化努力，该团队设想为现代农民提供更大、更健康和更可持续的作物收获，同时还减少与当前生产方法相关的潜在有害化学添加剂、环境破坏和浪费。目前实验室规模的研究结果非常有希望，然而，需要对市场进行详细的分析，并与专业的水培农民、行业专家、供应商和客户进行访谈，以验证全面的商业化。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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 I-Corps project is a new standard of plant purity, which can have tremendous positive health consequences for the millions of worldwide consumers. The cold plasma water purification and enrichment technology, utilized in our proposed hydroponic system, can extend to other areas of agriculture as the antimicrobial chemicals produced in plasma rapidly kill pathogens and are safe for both plants and animals. The potential benefits stemming from this technology can help vertical farmers to eradicate food scarcity challenges in urban centers all over the world, powered by the sun's energy. Given the imminent, significant, and accelerating problems of agricultural sustainability and water conservation facing humanity, this technology has the potential to play a significant role in helping to preserve and sustain life on Earth as we know it. Additionally, the decrease in water volume needed for irrigation and the increased yield of plants treated with plasma-treated water also supports applications of plasma treatment in various farming and reforestation efforts. Finally, an ambitious goal for the company is to implement this technology in environments where resources other than electricity are extremely limited, such as long-term space missions.This I-Corps project will allow the company to better understand the needs of the company's potential customers and how plasma technology can offer solutions to the commercial agricultural market while providing technological insight to members of the hydroponic agriculture industry and opportunities for significant improvements to their existing agricultural systems and practices. Through these plasma technology commercialization efforts, the team envisions facilitating bigger, healthier, and more sustainable crop harvests for the modern farmer, while also reducing the volume of potentially harmful chemical additives, environmental damage, and wastefulness associated with current production methods. Current lab-scale research results are very promising, however, detailed analysis of the market and interviews with professional hydroponic farmers, industry experts, vendors, and customers are required to validate full-scale commercialization.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.