I-Corps: Antimicrobial technologies for treatment of urban storm, industrial, and HVAC waters

I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发环境友好的抗菌多孔介质。目前控制微生物的方法，特别是在工业过程水中的细菌水平，如暖通空调和车辆的电子涂层，导致化学杀菌剂的显著分散和低水循环利用率。另一个值得关注的领域是雨水，那里的大量水流通常没有得到处理。因此，休闲水道可能会因微生物污染而受损，海滩可能会关闭。开发消耗最少化学品和能源的方法可以潜在地提高工业过程效率，由于减少了水和杀菌剂的消耗，从而大大节省了成本，并进一步减少了工人和下游环境接触这些有毒化学品的机会。在雨水应用中，这种廉价的介质可以与现有的沉淀物去除系统相结合，在重力作用下可以进行处理。I-Corps的这个项目探索了一种高渗透耐用多孔介质的转化，在这种介质中，杀菌剂被贴上而不是释放，从而显著减少了微生物负荷。一项新技术可以将杀菌剂加入海洋涂料，并通过化学改性，在塑料表面。这种材料可以通过溶解水流中存在的细菌而显著降低微生物浓度。处理发生迅速，只需几秒钟接触所需的培养基，而即使在大量（例如数万孔隙体积）的水通过培养基冲洗后，仍然保持高水平的抗菌性能。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of environmentally friendly antimicrobial porous media. Current methods of controlling microbes, especially bacterial levels in industrial process waters such as HVAC and e-coating of vehicles, result in significant dispersal of chemical biocides and low rates of water recycling. Another area of concern is stormwater where large surges of flow are commonly not treated. As a result, recreational waterways can become impaired and beaches closed due to microbial contamination. Development of methods consuming minimal chemicals and energy can potentially improve industrial process efficiency, resulting in significant savings due to lower water and biocide consumption, with the further benefit of reducing the exposure of workers and the downstream environment to these toxic chemicals. In stormwater applications, the inexpensive media can be coupled to existing sediment removal systems where gravity enables treatment.This I-Corps project explores translation of a high-permeability durable porous media where biocides are affixed rather than released, enabling significant reductions in microbial loads. A novel technology can incorporate biocides into marine coatings, and, through chemical modification, at the surface of plastics. Such materials may significantly reduce microbial concentrations through lysing of bacteria present in water streams during passage through the media. The treatment occurs rapidly, with only seconds of exposure to the media required, while high levels of antimicrobial performance remain even after large volumes (e.g., tens of thousands of pore-volumes) of water are flushed through the media.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.