I-Corps: Water treatment technology to remove arsenic from contaminated groundwater

这个I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是可能开发一种水处理技术，为小型低收入农村社区生产无砷饮用水。大约有2亿人通过饮用水接触到高水平的砷。砷是一种天然存在的地下水污染物，在其允许的水平下，它是任何受管制的致癌水污染物中最过量的癌症。拟议的技术可能会使小型社区受益，这些社区的水质问题到目前为止可能过于昂贵，无法小规模解决。虽然存在其他除砷技术，但其单位成本在小规模上迅速上升，使许多社区在这些工厂建成后可能无力承担运营和维护费用。此外，拟议的技术还可能有助于减轻医疗保健系统与砷相关癌症相关的费用负担，在美国，这一费用在每人75，000美元至150，000美元之间。这个I-Corps项目的基础是开发水砷污染补救技术。这种电化学技术通过在水中释放铁锈来去除砷，铁锈首先与砷结合，随后通过过滤或沉淀去除。拟议的技术可以从地下水中去除高浓度的砷，使其一直低于EPA批准的最高水平10 ppb。与当前除砷技术相比，拟议技术的优势包括可能更好的除砷功效、可能更低的资本以及运营和维护成本、需要更少的劳动力，并且可以消除任何液体废物流的产生。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并且通过使用基金会的智力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 is the potential development of a water treatment technology that may produce arsenic-free drinking water for small, low-income rural communities. About 200 million individuals are exposed to high levels of arsenic through their drinking water. Arsenic is a naturally occurring groundwater contaminant and causes the most excess cancers of any regulated carcinogenic water contaminant at its permitted level. The proposed technology may benefit small communities with a water quality problem that up until now may have been too expensive to address at small scale. Although other arsenic-removal technologies exist, their unit costs rise rapidly at small scale, leaving many communities potentially unable to afford operation and maintenance of such plants once they have been built. In addition, the proposed technology also may help alleviate the burden placed on health care systems for costs associated with arsenic-related cancers, which ranges between $75,000 to $150,000 per person in the United States. This I-Corps project is based on the development of technology for remediation of arsenic contamination of water. This proposed electrochemical technology removes arsenic by releasing in the water iron rust that first binds to arsenic and is subsequently removed through filtration or settling. The proposed technology may remove high concentrations of arsenic from groundwater down to levels consistently below the EPA-approved maximum level of 10 ppb. The advantages of the proposed technology over current arsenic removal technologies include possible better efficacy of arsenic removal, potentially lower capital and operating and maintenance costs, requires less labor, and could eliminate the production of any liquid waste stream.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.