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

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的广泛影响是，通过第一个实时传感器，可以快速、轻松、相对廉价地获得水体中微塑料浓度的信息。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了毁灭性的影响。人们对微塑料的兴趣激增，许多学者、非营利组织和政府机构都开始了微塑料的研究和监测项目。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。这项技术创造了第一个实时流动传感器来分析微塑料浓度，将开始缩小这些差距。这种传感器对客户的好处包括降低劳动力成本，以及可重复和准确的数据。这些好处可能会为补救战略和政策决定提供信息，从而导致随后全球微塑料的减少。减少环境中的微塑料对美国人民的生态和人类健康都有好处。这个项目的目标是建立第一个流动的、实时的微塑料传感器。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。该传感器利用非常大的带宽超声能量，记录悬浮塑料颗粒的不同尺寸、形状和材料性质的共振和散射响应，这些响应会随着塑料成分和风化状态的变化而变化。所有这些因素将使科学家了解样品的浓度和组成。该技术与目前的微塑料浓度测量方法不同，其新颖的超声技术组合已经在医学和无损检测界得到证实，用于液体中微颗粒的分类。该项目将使微塑料测量首次能够快速、轻松地进行，不仅可以在美国的海洋、湖泊和溪流中，还可以在废水和饮用水处理厂、海水淡化厂、农业灌溉管道和工厂径流流中迅速扩大微塑料测量范围。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 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.