SBIR Phase I: Bioremediation of Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons from Wastewaters

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是扩大低成本、低能源新材料的生产，以允许更多的水回收和再利用，为社会保护这一宝贵的资源。该项目的目的是增加对先进材料设计的科学和技术了解，以及对生物降解的详细知识，以具体和有效地从水系统中消除问题化学品。在某些情况下，这些水可能会适合市政使用。在其他情况下，水可以恢复到可以用于农业或工业加工的水平。这一第一阶段研究项目的技术目标是设计、建造和测试微囊化的微生物材料，旨在消除水中难以去除或极具危险的化学物质，从而使其能够重复使用。二氧化硅的封装材料通常被认为是安全的(GRAS)，价格低廉，而且灵活。这些材料与特定的微生物生物催化剂结合在一起，这些微生物生物催化剂被证明对特定化学类别中的一系列化学品具有广泛的生物降解活性。其中一类是多环芳烃(PAHs)和相关的芳环化学品，包括已证实的毒素、致癌物和内分泌干扰物。与目前正在使用的一些现有技术不同，将要开发的技术将寻求完全摧毁令人关切的化合物，这样就不需要进一步处理或处置任何废物。此外，在某些情况下，生物催化剂的专一性可以用来选择性地去除令人担忧的化学品，同时完全保留进一步利用水可能需要的其他化学品。总体而言，本项目力求扩大使用生物催化剂和先进材料，有选择地、完全地去除水中的化学物质，从而最大限度地减少成本，最大限度地保护和利用水资源。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project is to scale up the production of low-cost, low-energy novel materials to allow more water recycling and reuse, preserving this precious resource for society. The aims of the project are to increase scientific and technological understanding of advanced material design with a detailed knowledge of biodegradation to specifically and efficiently remove problem chemicals from water systems. In some cases, the water may be made suitable for municipal use. In other cases, water may be restored to a level such that it can be used for agriculture or industrial processing. The technical objectives of this Phase I research project are to design, construct and test encapsulated microbial materials that are targeted toward eliminating hard-to-remove or acutely hazardous chemicals from waters, so as to allow their reuse. The encapsulating material of silica is generally regarded as safe (GRAS), is inexpensive, and flexible. The materials are combined with specific microbial biocatalysts that are demonstrated to have broad biodegradation activities against a range of chemicals within specific chemical classes. One such class are the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and related aromatic ring chemicals that include demonstrated toxins, carcinogens and endocrine disruptors. The technology to be developed, unlike some existing technologies currently in use, will seek to completely destroy the compounds of concern such that no waste material need to further treated or disposed of. Moreover, the specificity of the biocatalysts can be used to, in some cases, selectively remove chemicals of concern while completely retaining other chemicals that may be needed for the further utility of the water. Overall, the present project seeks to expand the use of biocatalysts and advanced materials to selectively and completely remove chemicals from water, thus minimizing cost and maximizing conservation and use of water resources.