I-Corps: Commercialization of a Mercury Calibration Device

汞对健康的影响通常发生在食用受汞污染的鱼类时，但大多数汞污染是排放到大气中的。汞污染对水生环境的影响取决于大气运输、化学和沉积过程。近几十年来，人们发现汞的氧化和氧化汞化合物的沉积是汞生物地球化学循环中特别重要的步骤。大气氧化汞的测量是由全国各地的几十个研究和监管团体进行的常规测量，这些测量结果为环境保护局和其他机构最近的监管工作提供了信息。目前，没有商业上可用的方法来验证大气氧化汞的测量值。此外，最近的研究表明，在某些大气条件下，商业氧化汞仪器没有报告准确的测量结果。该团队建议将一种自动校准设备商业化，该设备可以产生超痕量的气相汞化合物浓度。该团队开发了一种渗透烘箱、流动和处理系统，以产生超痕量气相汞化合物浓度，用于校准大气汞设备。它使用独特设计的渗透管，通过控制量的汞化合物进入惰性气体流。仪器中的所有湿部件都是非常惰性的，并精确加热，以允许活性和半挥发性化合物的定量通过。该系统是为大气汞设计的，但该技术也可用于其他活性化合物。

Health impacts from mercury typically occur from consumption of mercury-contaminated fish, but most mercury pollution is emitted to the atmosphere. Impacts from mercury pollution in the aquatic environment depend on atmospheric transport, chemistry, and deposition processes. In recent decades mercury oxidation and deposition of oxidized mercury compounds have been found to be particularly important steps in mercury biogeochemical cycling. Atmospheric oxidized mercury measurements are made routinely by dozens of research and regulatory groups around the country, and these measurements have informed recent regulatory efforts by EPA and other agencies. Currently, no commercially-available method exists for verifying atmospheric oxidized mercury measurements. Further, recent research has shown that commercial instruments for oxidized mercury do not report accurate measurements under some atmospheric conditions.This team proposes to commercialize an automated calibration device that generates ultra-trace concentrations of gas-phase mercury compounds. The team has developed a permeation oven and flow and processing system to generate ultra-trace concentrations of gas-phase mercury compounds for calibration of atmospheric mercury equipment. It uses uniquely-designed permeation tubes to pass controlled amounts of mercury compounds into an inert gas stream. All wetted parts in the instrument are extremely inert and precisely heated to allow for quantitative passage of reactive and semi-volatile compounds. The system is designed for atmospheric mercury, but the technology can also be used for other reactive compounds.