SBIR Phase I: Direct Measurements of Black and Brown Carbon Aerosols without Filter Collection

该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力在于空气中黑色（BC）和棕色（BrC）碳颗粒问题的普遍性。这些是由燃烧过程形成的，如机动车辆和船舶，森林火灾和生物质燃烧，以及发展中国家的室内烹饪。BC和BrC是影响空气质量、能见度和气候的大气气溶胶（空气中的小固体和液体颗粒）的重要组成部分。世界卫生组织估计，2012年全球有近700万人过早死亡与空气污染有关，而含黑碳的气溶胶往往被认为是一个主要因素，因为它们与不利的健康影响有很强的联系。在美国和国外的城市和工业地区，以较低的成本对BC（和BrC）进行准确和可靠的监测是必要的，以提供足够的时间和空间测量，可用于评估区域空气质量模型和估计社区暴露风险。然后，这些信息将使地方和区域政府机构能够制定保护其社区健康的缓解战略。这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目通过开发一种长路径光度计来量化空气中的黑碳和黑碳颗粒，解决了准确和廉价的黑碳（BC）测量问题。最常见的商用BC和BrC技术需要在过滤器上收集颗粒。该滤波器引入了许多需要复杂校正的伪影。其他现有的技术相当昂贵，需要大量的专业知识才能操作。这里要开发的黑碳光度计（BCP）不需要在滤光片上预先浓缩，因此提供了直接的，无需校正的测量。它操作简单，几乎不需要维护，类似于通常用于监测气相物种（如臭氧）网络的光度计。最初的BCP将是低功耗、便携的，预计比目前可用的BC分析仪成本更低。因此，它应为空气质量和公共卫生方面的研究人员以及监测机构的研究人员提供一种替代现有技术的实用和经济的办法。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project lies in the widespread nature of the problem of airborne Black (BC) and Brown (BrC) carbon particulates. These are formed from combustion processes such as motor vehicles and ships, forest fires and biomass burning, as well as indoor cooking in developing countries. BC and BrC are important components of atmospheric aerosols (small airborne solid and liquid particles) that affect air quality, visibility and climate. The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 7 million premature deaths globally in 2012 were linked to air pollution, and black carbon-containing aerosols are often singled out as a major contributor due to their strong linkages to adverse health effects. Accurate and robust monitoring of BC (and BrC) at a lower cost is necessary in urban and industrial areas throughout the United States and abroad to provide adequate temporal and spatial measurements that can be used to assess regional air quality models and estimate community exposure risks. This information will then make it possible for local and regional government agencies to develop mitigation strategies that protect the health of their communities. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project addresses the problem of accurate and inexpensive Black Carbon (BC) measurements by developing a long-path photometer to quantify airborne BC and BrC particulates. The most common commercially-available technique for BC and BrC requires collection of particulates on a filter. This filter introduces numerous artefacts requiring complicated corrections. Other existing techniques are quite expensive and require significant expertise to operate. The Black Carbon Photometer (BCP) to be developed here will not require pre-concentration on a filter, thus providing a direct, correction-free measurement. It will be operationally simple and require little maintenance, similar to photometers routinely used in monitoring networks for gas phase species such as ozone. The initial BCP will be low power, portable and is projected to cost less than currently available BC analyzers. Thus, it should provide researchers in air quality and public health, as well as those in monitoring agencies, a practical and economical alternative to existing technologies.