SBIR Phase I: Developing the First Flow-Through Sensor for Real Time Microplastics Measurements

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛影响是通过第一个实时传感器快速，轻松和相对便宜地获得水体中微塑料浓度的知识的能力。微塑料是一个全球性的污染问题，对生态系统服务、人类健康和渔业经济产生破坏性影响。对微塑料的兴趣正在激增，许多学者，非营利组织和政府机构都开始了微塑料研究和监测计划。然而，研究和监测微塑料的限制因素是，目前所有收集和分析微塑料的方法都非常耗时。由于分析样品的瓶颈，目前关于微塑料丰度的知识存在许多空白。这项技术，在创建第一个实时流通传感器来分析微塑料浓度，将开始关闭这些差距。这种传感器对客户的好处包括降低劳动力成本，以及可再现和准确的数据。这些好处可能会为补救策略和政策决策提供信息，从而导致全球微塑料的后续减少。减少环境中的微塑料可以为美国人民带来生态和人类健康益处。该项目旨在为微塑料构建第一个流通式实时传感器。该技术可以通过测量超声波频率来减少微塑料丰度的采样时间。使用非常大的带宽超声能量，传感器将记录悬浮塑料颗粒的不同共振和散射响应，这些响应基于尺寸、形状和材料特性，这些特性将因塑料成分和风化状态而异。 所有这些因素将告知科学家关于样品的浓度和组成。该技术与目前的微塑料浓度测量方法的区别在于其新颖的超声波技术组合，这些技术已经在医疗和无损检测领域被证明用于液体微粒分类。该项目将首次允许快速、轻松地进行微塑料测量，允许快速扩展微塑料测量，不仅在美国的海洋、湖泊和溪流中，而且在废水和饮用水处理厂、海水淡化厂、农业灌溉线、该奖项反映了NSF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进行评估，被认为值得支持的搜索.

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is the increased ability to gain knowledge about microplastic concentrations in bodies of water rapidly, easily, and relatively cheaply through the first real-time sensor. Microplastics are a worldwide pollution problem that have devastating impacts on ecosystem services, human health, and fishery economics. Interest in microplastics is surging, with many academics, nonprofits, and government agencies all beginning microplastic research and monitoring programs. However, the limiting factor in studying and monitoring microplastics is that all current methods for collecting and analyzing them are extremely time-consuming. There are many current knowledge gaps about microplastic abundance due to bottlenecks in analyzing samples. This technology, in creating the first real-time flow-through sensor to analyze microplastic concentration, would begin to close those gaps. The benefits to the customer of this sensor include reduced labor costs, and reproducible and accurate data. These benefits may inform remediation strategies and policy decisions that could lead to a subsequent reduction of microplastics globally. Reducing microplastics in the environment can have ecological and human health benefits for the American people. This project aims to build the first flow-through, real-time sensor for microplastics. The technology could reduce the sampling time of microplastic abundances by measuring ultrasonic frequencies. Using very large bandwidth ultrasound energy, the sensor will record different resonant and scattering responses of the suspended plastic particles based on size, shape, and material properties which will vary by plastic composition and weathering state. All of these factors will inform scientists about the concentration and composition of the sample. This technology is differentiated from current measurement methods of microplastic concentration by its novel combination of ultrasound technologies that have already been proven in both the medical and non-destructive inspection communities for in-liquid microparticle classification. This project will allow microplastics measurements to be taken quickly and easily for the first time, allowing for a rapid expansion of microplastics measurements, not only in America’s oceans, lakes, and streams, but also in wastewater and drinking water treatment plants, desalination plants, agriculture irrigation lines, and factory runoff streams.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.