I-Corps: Magnetic Nanoremediation of Crude Oil

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力来自一个基于纳米技术的平台，该平台是为处理和清理（修复）受污染的土地和水而开发的。该平台具有处理多种污染物的潜力，并已成功应用于石油和金属。该平台在综合和部署方面都是可扩展的，对环境的影响很小，并且灵活且具有成本效益。石油和金属污染的补救是对环境和人类健康的持续和关键关注。这个灵活的平台有可能解决这些挑战。最初的商业化目标是航运、海洋和旅游部门。这个I-Corps项目将确定基于低成本、易得和低毒化学品的安全聚合物涂层和磁性纳米材料的潜在用例。简单和快速的吸附反应控制了油和金属的去除，并且纳米材料被保护得足够长，可以有效地发挥其功能。吸附的金属/油毒性较小，磁性纳米材料可以很容易地将吸附的污染物从环境中分离出来。该平台可以有效地与原位细菌生物修复结合使用，其中可能不需要磁性，但纳米材料提供了易于吸收的碳和限制细菌的营养来源。该系统将通过快速降解油和金属固定物来快速降低毒性。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 I-Corps project comes from a nanotechnology-based platform developed for the treatment and clean-up (remediation) of contaminated land and water. The platform has the potential for use for a wide range of contaminants and has been demonstrated successfully for oil and metals. The platform is scalable in both synthesis and deployment, has a low environmental footprint, and it is flexible and cost-effective. Remediation of oil and metal pollution is an ongoing and critical concern for environmental and human health. This flexible platform has the potential to solve these challenges. Initial commercialization targets are the shipping, marine, and tourism sectors, This I-Corps project will determine potential use cases for safe polymer-coated and magnetic nanomaterials based on low-cost, easily available and low toxicity chemicals. Simple and rapid sorption reactions govern oil and metal removal, and the nanomaterials are protected from transformations long enough to effectively perform their function. Sorbed metal/oil is less toxic, and magnetic nanomaterials allow easy separation of sorbed pollutants from the environment. The platform can be used effectively in conjunction with bacterial bioremediation for in-situ use, in which the magnetic properties may not be needed, but the nanomaterials provide an easily assimilated carbon and limiting nutrient source to bacteria. The system would offer rapid reduction of toxicity via rapid degradation of oil and metal fixation.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.