Bio-Aerosol Monitoring

联合国最近强调了粮食系统崩溃对气候变化的影响。超过13亿吨的食物垃圾，耗资超过8000亿英镑，导致超过330万吨的二氧化碳排放。所有这一切，与此同时，全球有不少于8亿人处于饥饿或营养不良状态。英国废物资源和行动计划的最新报告显示，英国每年产生约950万吨食物垃圾，家庭和企业的总成本为190亿英镑。英国用于处理食物，花园和剩余家庭垃圾的三种主要生物处理技术包括堆肥，厌氧消化（AD）和机械生物处理（MBT）设施。这些方法利用微生物，如细菌，来分解废物中的有机物质。当废物经过不同的分解阶段时，在废物处理设施周围可能会释放出高浓度的生物气溶胶。生物气溶胶含有微生物、植物或动物来源的颗粒物质（细菌、真菌、病毒、过敏原、毒素、花粉、植物纤维等）。在生物废物设施中接触高浓度的生物气溶胶可能对人类健康产生不利影响，并与呼吸道和胃肠道疾病有关。众所周知，免疫系统受到抑制的人患上此类疾病的风险更高。为了提高从家庭和企业中不可食用的食物垃圾中回收生物营养素和生化物质的能力，同时减少生物气溶胶的暴露，IntelliDigest开发了iDigest --一款受自然启发的机器人。它使用与我们身体相同的原理来感知和分析食物垃圾的成分，促使分泌正确的组合和数量的酶来分解它，通常每个周期不到4小时。在这个项目中，我们将与NPL合作开发一种新的方法，用于在iDigest运行期间捕获和灵敏度分析生物气溶胶排放。无论结果如何，这项活动对IntelliDigest都很重要。如果生物气溶胶水平很低或可忽略不计，这将是向iDigest用户证明在室内住宅和职业环境中使用它是安全的重要一步。如果结果显示iDigest有生物气溶胶排放，这将使我们能够进一步创新我们的产品，提高安全性。

The United Nations has recently highlighted the impact of the broken food system on climate change. Over 1.3 billion tonnes of food waste, costing over £800 Billion, has led to over 3.3 Gtonnes of carbon dioxide being emitted. All this, while no less than 800 million people are hungry or malnourished globally. The most recent report by the Waste Resource and Action Programme indicates that the UK generates around 9.5 million tonnes of food waste each year, costing households and businesses a combined total of £19 billion.The three main biological treatment technologies used in the UK to treat food, garden and residual household waste include composting, anaerobic digestion (AD) and mechanical biological treatment (MBT) facilities. These use micro-organisms, such as bacteria, to break down the organic material in the waste. As the waste goes through different phases of break down, bioaerosols are released in potentially high concentrations around the waste treatment facilities.Bioaerosols contain particulate matter of microbial, plant or animal origin (bacteria, fungi, viruses, allergens, toxins, pollen, plant fibres, etc). Exposure to high concentrations of bioaerosols at biowaste facilities can result in adverse human health effects with links to respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses. People who have a suppressed immune system are known to be at a higher risk of developing such conditions.To enhance the recovery of bio-nutrients and biochemicals from inedible food waste within households and businesses, while reducing exposure to bioaerosols, the iDigest - a nature-inspired robot - has been developed by IntelliDigest. It uses the same principles as our body to sense and analyse the composition of food waste, prompting the secretion of the right combination and quantity of enzymes to break it down, usually in less than 4 hours per cycle. Nutrients are then recovered from the iDigest for future use in food production.In this project, we will be working with NPL to develop a new method for the capture and sensitive analysis of bioaerosol emission during iDigest operation. Whatever the outcome, this activity is important to IntelliDigest. If bioaerosol levels are low or negligible, it will represent a vital step towards demonstrating to iDigest users that it is safe for use within indoor residential and occupational environments. If the results show that there is bioaerosol emission from iDigest, it will enable us to innovate our product further with improved safety in mind.