Paper-based particulate matter sensors

在过去的十年中，加拿大纸浆和造纸工业已经克服了经济，金融和组织混乱，公司已经发现难以解决。加拿大纸浆和造纸工业向前发展的一个潜在途径是确定新的增值产品，以开辟新的市场。该项目的目标是开发一种新的制造和设备技术，为加拿大纸浆和造纸工业的软木市场纸浆生产纳米复合纸基产品。由于加拿大木材在气候和地理方面的有利地位，这些纸浆享有优良的增强纸浆的声誉。在这个项目中，我们与加拿大北方漂白针叶木浆（NBSK）纸浆的主要生产商之一Canfor纸浆有限公司（CPL）合作。该技术将利用NSBK纸浆独特的机械性能，为NSBK纳米复合材料产品提供新的廉价和环保的传感技术，从而为NSBK纸浆增加价值。

During the last decade, the Canadian pulp and paper industry has been overcome with economic, financial, and organizational dislocations that firms have found difficult to address. One potential pathway for the pulp and paper industry in Canada going forward is to identify new value-added products in order to open up new markets. The goal of this project is to develop a new manufacturing and device technology that will enable the production of nanocomposite paper-based products for the Canadian pulp and paper industry's softwood market pulps. These pulps have a reputation for being superior reinforcing pulps due to the favourable position of Canadian wood in terms of climate and geography. For this project, we have partnered with Canfor Pulp Limited (CPL) who is one of Canada's major producers of Northern Bleached Softwood Kraft (NBSK) pulp. The proposed technology will add value to NSBK pulp by enabling new inexpensive and environmentally friendly sensing technology with NSBK nanocomposite products, taking advantage of the unique mechanical properties of NSBK pulp. The proposed disposable paper-based particulate matter (PM) sensors will be designed for portable aerosol measurement systems to provide real-time information on PM concentration in the environment; elevated PM levels contribute to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. We will develop this technology with our second partner Nanozen Industries. The addressable annual environmental safety market for environmental monitors is around $100 million with a projected annual growth rate at over 20%. In the long term, these nanocomposite materials and our demonstration of functional paper can be further developed to open up other unique and value-added applications of Canada's softwood market pulps including other types of environmental sensors and smart packaging. These applications hold direct potential to benefit Canadians through technology transfer, commercialization, and the resulting creation of new jobs.