STTR Phase I: Increasing the Efficiency of Membrane Filtration for Drinking Water Purification through the Incorporation of Novel Anti-Biofilm Small Molecules

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。这个小型企业技术转让第一阶段项目测试了应用敏捷科学技术减少或消除用于饮用水净化的过滤膜上的生物污染的可行性。有效地应用膜过滤来提供安全饮用水的主要障碍是膜上生物膜的积累，或“生物污染”。生物污染不仅会导致处理量的降低，还会导致不均匀的流动状况，例如携带污染物的水可能会通过膜喷出，从而将这些污染物引入饮用水中。北卡罗来纳州立大学的Christian Melander博士的研究小组最近发现了一系列小有机分子，它们既可以抑制细菌的生物膜，也可以分散细菌的生物膜，这些分子可以跨越细菌的目、类和门。将这些分子掺入过滤膜中有可能显著减少生物膜的形成，从而大大提高过滤过程的效率和功效。Agile Sciences已经获得了Melander实验室开发的技术许可，第一阶段STTR项目的范围是开发必要的方法，将Agile Sciences的抗生物膜分子整合到过滤膜中，同时保持其防污性能。尽管获得安全饮用水是人类的基本需求，但人口的指数增长以及气候变化的影响使全球大部分人口的饮用水短缺。世界上超过20%的人口无法获得安全饮用水，每年有数百万人死于与受污染的水有关的疾病。膜过滤是一种很有前途的提供清洁饮用水的技术。然而，膜过滤的大规模应用受到生物污染的影响。仅在美国，过滤膜的市场规模估计在每年20亿至40亿美元之间。除了提供安全的饮用水外，过滤膜还用于半导体和制药行业，以提供超高纯水和处理废水。在所有这些应用中，过滤膜的效率受到生物污染的限制。除了上述工业和卫生应用之外，开发一种抗生物污染的疏水聚合物将对聚合物科学领域作出重大贡献。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I Project tests the feasibility of applying Agile Sciences' technology to decreasing or eliminating biofouling on filtration membranes used for drinking water purification. The main obstacle in efficiently applying membrane filtration to provide safe drinking water is the buildup of biofilms on the membrane, or "biofouling". Biofouling not only causes a reduction in throughput, but can also result in uneven flow conditions such that spurts of water carrying contaminants may pass through the membrane, thus introducing these contaminants into the drinking water. The research group of Dr. Christian Melander at NC State University has recently identified a series of small organic molecules that can both inhibit and disperse biofilms of bacteria across bacterial order, class, and phylum. Incorporation of these molecules into filtration membranes has the potential to significantly reduce biofilm buildup, thus greatly improving the efficiency and efficacy of the filtration process. Agile Sciences has licensed the technology developed in the Melander Laboratory, and the scope of this Phase I STTR Project is to develop the methodology necessary to incorporate Agile Sciences' anti-biofilm molecules into filtration membranes while retaining their antifouling properties. Although the availability of safe drinking water is a fundamental human need, exponential population growth as well as the effects of climate change have made drinking water scarce for large portions of the global population. Over 20% of the world's population does not have access to safe drinking water, and millions of people die each year from diseases attributed to contaminated water. A promising technology for delivering clean drinking water is membrane filtration. However, large-scale application of membrane filtration is hampered by the effects of biofouling. The market size for filtration membranes in the United States alone is estimated to be between $2 billion and $4 billion per year. In addition to providing safe drinking water, filtration membranes are used in the semiconductor and pharmaceutical industries to provide ultra-high-purity water and in treating wastewater. In all these applications, the efficiency of filtration membranes is limited by biofouling. In addition to the aforementioned industrial and health applications, development of a hydrophobic polymer that is resistant to biofouling would represent a substantial contribution to the field of polymer science.