Rapid Real-Time High-Sensitivity Trichloroethylene Vapor Analyzer

描述(由申请人提供)：这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将解决对痕量三氯乙烯(TCE)蒸气传感器的需求。TCE是一种有毒的挥发性有机化合物(VOC)，用作工业溶剂。三氯乙烯是工业有毒废弃场常见的土壤污染物，它在土壤中迁移，远离原来的污染点。从受污染的土壤侵入建筑物的TCE蒸气会将TCE蒸气集中在室内，对居住者的健康构成威胁。目前，对三氯乙烯的监测是通过捕获具有化学活性的材料，然后在实验室分析这些材料来进行的；测量间隔为几小时或几天。测量间隔为几分钟的实时监测将能够实时绘制建筑物内TCE浓度的地图，以定位入口的蒸汽入射点，并监测进入建筑物的TCE数量。该映射将进入建筑物的三氯乙烯与室内来源的三氯乙烯区分开来。纠缠技术公司建议确定基于腔衰荡光谱(CRDS)和扩散飞行时间(DiTOF)结合固定相(如在气相色谱中)开发三氯乙烯蒸气传感器的可行性。CRDS提供了极其灵敏的检测，而固定相扩散提供了特异性。第一阶段的研究目标是展示在存在其他挥发性有机化合物和大气成分(如二氧化碳和水蒸气)的情况下，在空气中选择性地检测三氯乙烯蒸气。该项目将包括建造一个桌面CRDS/DiTOF气体分析仪原型，用于测试三氯乙烯和其他挥发性有机化合物。预期的TCE灵敏度为万亿分之20，测量时间约为10分钟，超过了现有技术。该项目的长期目标是开发一种便携式三氯乙烯蒸气分析仪，作为一种商业产品，灵敏度为10pptv。另一个目标是使该项目产生的相同基本分析仪设计适用于许多不同的痕量气体，包括大气和室内空气污染物，以及痕量气体的组合。这样的分析仪系列将对污染研究、控制和缓解产生影响，就像CRDS二氧化碳、甲烷和水分析仪目前正在影响温室气体和气候变化的研究一样。作为一个长期目标，CRDS/DiTOF技术将应用于生物医学、工业过程监测、环境修复和爆炸物检测。例如，基于扩散的选择性将被证明对分离和量化人体呼气中的许多碳氢化合物气体成分至关重要，这些气体成分对疾病的非侵入性诊断有用。同样，CRDS/DiTOF可以对血液等液体进行敏感的化学分析。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will address the need for a trace trichloroethylene (TCE) vapor sensor. TCE is a toxic volatile organic compound (VOC) used as an industrial solvent. TCE is a common soil contaminant at industrial toxic waste sites, and it migrates through the soil away from the original contamination site. TCE vapor intrusion into buildings from contaminated soil concentrates the TCE vapor indoors, where it poses a health risk to the occupants. Currently, TCE is monitored by capturing it with chemically active materials, and then analyzing those materials in a laboratory; the measurement interval is hours or days. A real-time monitor with a measurement interval of minutes would enable real- time mapping of the TCE concentration within a building, to locate vapor intrusion points of ingress and to monitor the quantity of TCE entering the building. The mapping distinguishes TCE entering the building from indoor sources of TCE. Entanglement Technologies proposes to determine the feasibility of developing a TCE vapor sensor based on the combination of cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) and diffusion time-of-flight (DiTOF) incorporating stationary phases (as in gas chromatography). CRDS provides extremely sensitive detection while diffusion with stationary phase provides specificity. The research objective for phase I is to demonstrate selective TCE vapor detection in air in the presence of other VOCs and atmospheric components (such as carbon dioxide and water vapor). The project will comprise building a table-top CRDS/DiTOF prototype gas analyzer to test with TCE and other VOCs. The anticipated TCE sensitivity is 20 parts per trillion by volume in a measurement time of approximately 10 minutes, surpassing existing technologies. The long term objective of this project is to develop a portable TCE vapor analyzer as a commercial product with a 10 pptv sensitivity. An additional objective is to adapt the same basic analyzer design resulting from this project to many different trace gases, including atmospheric and indoor-air pollutants, and combinations of trace gases. Such a family of analyzers will impact pollution research, control, and mitigation as much as CRDS carbon dioxide, methane, and water analyzers are currently impacting the study of greenhouse gases and climate change. As a long term objective, CRDS/DiTOF technology will be applied to biomedical science, industrial process monitoring, environmental remediation and explosives detection. For example, the diffusion-based selectivity will prove critical to the separation and quantification of the many hydrocarbon gas components in human breath useful for non-invasive diagnosis of disease. Similarly, CRDS/DiTOF can enable sensitive chemical analysis of liquids such as blood.