I-Corps: Nitrate Elimination from Water and Filtration Systems

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是为企业、政府机构和个人提供一个过滤器，以消除水中的硝酸盐。饮用水中的硝酸盐对社会有重大影响，因为它会导致严重的人类健康问题。它还促进了河流、湖泊和沿海地区藻类的生长，这干扰了这些地区的旅游、娱乐和其他商业用途。进入供水的硝酸盐的两个主要来源是农田硝酸盐化肥的径流和城市和工业废水处理厂的排放。拦截这些水并在硝酸盐进入环境之前将其消除，构成了该技术商业化潜力的主要部分。饮用水处理厂是一个潜在的商业用户，拥有净水系统的房主也是如此。这个i-Corps项目将探索一种从水中去除硝酸盐的过滤器的潜在商业化。它由一层覆盖着一种含铁粘土矿物的沙粒组成。在涂覆之前，粘土被设计成与硝酸盐发生反应。一旦被覆盖，沙子/粘土矿物就会吸引流水中的硝酸盐并与之反应，将其转化为无害的氮气或氨。粘土中的铁是改变硝酸盐的关键。该项目的智力价值在于，三个独立的研究成果结合在一起制造了过滤器。其中包括反转粘土表面电荷的过程，改变铁电荷与硝酸盐反应的过程，最后设计出具有合适流动特性的系统。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to provide a filter to businesses, government agencies, and individuals to eliminate nitrate from water. Nitrate in drinking water has significant impacts on society because it causes serious human health problems. It also promotes the growth of algae in rivers, lakes, and coastal areas, which interferes with tourism, recreation as well as other commercial uses of these areas. The two principal sources of nitrate entering water supplies are the runoff of nitrate fertilizers from agricultural fields and the discharge from municipal and industrial waste-water treatment plants. Intercepting these waters and eliminating the nitrate from them before it enters the environment constitutes a major segment of the potential for commercialization of the technology. Drinking water treatment plants are a potential commercial user, as are homeowners with water purification systems.This I-Corps project will explore the potential commercialization of a filter to eliminate nitrate from water. It consists of a bed of sand grains coated with an iron-bearing clay mineral. Before coating, the clay is engineered to react with nitrate. Once coated, the sand/clay mineral attracts and reacts with nitrate in the flowing water, changing it to harmless nitrogen gas or ammonium. Iron in the clay is the key for changing the nitrate. The intellectual merit of the project is that three independent research findings were combined to make the filter. These include processes to reverse the charge on the clay surfaces, changing the iron charge to react with nitrate, and finally engineering a system with suitable flow characteristics.