SBIR Phase II: Scaling and Tailoring the Destruction of Emerging Contaminants with the Plasma Water Reactor

这项小企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目的更广泛/商业影响是促进水资源公平和环境管理。新出现的污染物（CECs），如全氟烷基和多氟烷基物质（PFAS），威胁着美国的自然资源。分离是目前PFAS管理的做法，但这会产生危险废物，处置费用高昂，并带来长期责任。等离子体是一项很有前途的技术，但它很难规模化。该项目在该领域研究了一种创新的几何设计，可以增强等离子体的点火和传播，同时最大限度地降低能耗。由于水回收、废物消除、碳和能源足迹减少，现场部署将对环境产生积极影响。该项目鼓励多学科合作，探索以权益为导向的商业模式，如“买一捐一”和“转送”，旨在保护那些最容易受到资源不安全影响的人。这些模式将水作为一种双重用途的资源，将客户的成功与弱势社区的福利和社会经济流动性结合起来。Purafide还与拉瓜迪亚社区学院（LaGuardia Community College）的环境科学项目合作，培养多元化、多学科的员工队伍。总体而言，该项目将加强水的安全性、稳定性和可持续性。该项目将在一个修复场地和一个由州政府维护的垃圾填埋场试行基于等离子体的处理技术，这两个场地被密歇根州PFAS行动响应小组确定为高优先级场地。这些都是具有挑战性的基质，但也是等离子体反应器过去成功消除CECs的地方。创新的几何方法最大限度地提高了等离子体-水界面，并使其能够达到与商业相关的流量。试验的成功标准是PFAS水平低于密歇根州最大允许PFAS水平，有效流速约为5加仑/分钟，减少1+(90%)的测井曲线。由于全氟辛酸（PFOA）和全氟辛烷磺酸（PFOS）的普遍存在以及《联邦安全饮用水法》提出的严格标准，它们将被用作指示化合物。Purafide将在现场设计、制造、部署和参数化评估该技术。Purafide还将开发内部分析能力，例如EPA方法1633草案，以及试图分别降低和预测成本的技术经济模型。假设实现了技术目标，技术准备水平将显著提高，这表明最小可行产品将为全面规模做好准备。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/commercial impacts of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project are the promotion of water equity and environmental stewardship. Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), threaten the natural resources of the United States. Separation is the current state-of-practice for PFAS management, but this produces hazardous waste where disposal is costly and introduces long-term liabilities. Plasma is a promising technology, but it struggles to scale. This project investigates in the field an innovative geometric design that enhances plasma ignition and propagation while minimizing energy consumption. Field deployment will positively impact the environment due to water reclamation, waste elimination, and carbon and energy footprint reduction. This project encourages multidisciplinary collaborations and explores equity-oriented business models, such as buy-one-donate-one and pay-it-forward, that attempt to safeguard those who are most vulnerable to resource insecurity. These models use water as a dual-purpose resource that couples the success of customers with the welfare and socioeconomic mobility of disadvantaged communities. Purafide is also collaborating with LaGuardia Community College’s environmental science program to develop a diverse, multidisciplinary workforce. Overall, this project will strengthen the security, stability, and sustainability of water.The project will pilot a plasma-based treatment technology at a remediation site and a state-maintained landfill, which was identified as high-priority sites by the Michigan PFAS Action Response Team. These are challenging matrices but also where the plasma reactor has successfully eliminated CECs in the past. The innovative geometric approach maximizes the plasma-water interface and enables scaling to commercially relevant flow rates. The success criteria for the pilots will be achieving PFAS levels below the Michigan Maximum allowable PFAS Levels with an effective flow rate of about five gal/min for 1+ (90%) log reduction. Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) will serve as indicator compounds due to their prevalence and the strict standards proposed under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. Purafide will design, manufacture, deploy, and parametrically assess the technology in the field. Purafide will also develop in-house analytical capabilities, such as Draft EPA Method 1633, and a technoeconomic model in an attempt to reduce and predict costs, respectively. Assuming the technical objective is accomplished, the technology readiness level will significantly increase, suggesting the minimum viable product will be ready for the full scale.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.