Real time tracing of clay movement in fresh and marine waters as carriers of pollutants, or indicators of sediment transport and deposition

粘土是世界上许多土壤的重要组成部分，由于它易于在流动的水中运输，它是污染物在环境中分散的重要手段。这些污染物包括：磷、钾、重金属和农药。粘土颗粒在陆地上和地下流动中移动，然后可能进入湖泊、河流和海洋。由于缺乏一种使用合适的示踪剂容易观察的方法，了解悬浮粘土在环境中如何随时间移动一直受到阻碍。在这种情况下，示踪剂是与其他水性粘土颗粒一起运动的颗粒，但更容易观察到。通过NERC资助的博士学位，一种独特的粘土示踪剂（CT）已经开发出来，可以实时观察粘土颗粒在水中的运动，而不改变颗粒的运动方式，也不需要逐步去除CT或破坏观察过程的采样方法。由于CT由粘土颗粒组成，表面涂有已用于环境监测的荧光染料，因此CT适合大规模环境使用，环境风险最小。在环境咨询（EC）市场中，已经确定了ct的几个有价值的商业应用，包括了解：-水中粘土颗粒和相关污染物的潜在来源、途径和汇，例如污染物沉积的位置以及海洋/淡水沉积物中发现的污染物是如何到达那里的。-在地表水中捕获和清除粘土大小物质的缓解措施的有效性。-了解粘土级物料在工业过程中的移动，例如废物回收设施。-追踪工业地盘受污染或受风吹来的滋扰尘埃的流动。一个以知识产权保护为基础的基本商业战略已经为欧洲经委会制定，加上对欧洲经委会市场的一些了解，以及欧洲经委会相对于其竞争对手的好处。然而，需要市场研究专业知识来帮助我们更好地了解市场，其规模，确定对使用该技术感兴趣的潜在ec，以及这些企业需要哪种类型的CT产品。有了这些信息，我们将更好地建立示范项目和商业关系，以使ECs在上述和其他应用中使用CT。我们还需要了解：谁可以生产100公斤数量的CT，检查吨数量的生产不需要REACh注册，看看加强我们专利申请的策略是否有效。我们的目标是：1订阅Environment Analyst (E An.)，并消化全球和英国EC市场和公司报告中的信息，了解CT市场规模识别和访问任何其他重要的市场研究来源，以了解英国和其他重要市场的CT市场：欧洲，北美，澳大利亚，中东，中国和非洲。3使用由安确定的主要和较小的电子商务公司列表。在英国和全球范围内确定：谁使用粒子示踪剂，用于什么目的，以及我们的CT是否感兴趣首先进行公开面试，重点关注可能对CT感兴趣的英国ec，以确认他们是否真的对CT感兴趣，并回答许多其他问题对CT进行SWOT分析。6确定将CT商业化的初步路线和初步讨论的ec清单确定能够生产100公斤量的ct的公司，并了解：任何扩大规模的问题，不同粒度范围的ct的成本，任何立法问题和推荐的存储选项检查大规模生产所需的两个CT组件是否已经由潜在供应商进行了REACh注册，以最大限度地降低进一步扩大生产所需CT本身注册的风险通过专利检索确定是否存在加强我们的CT专利申请的途径。英国利益相关者：发明家，EA， SEPA, ec， CT生产商。

Clay is a key part of many of the world's soils, due to its ease of transport in flowing water it is an important means by which pollutants are dispersed in the environment. Such pollutants include: phosphorus, potassium, heavy metals and pesticides. Clay particles are moved by both overland and subsurface flow, which may then enter lakes, rivers and the sea. Understanding how suspended clays move with time in the environment has been hampered by lack of a way to easily observe this using suitable tracers. In this case, tracers are particles moving in unison with other water-borne clay particles, but more easily observed.Through a NERC funded PhD, a unique clay tracer (CT) has been developed allowing clay particle movement by water to be seen in real-time without altering how the particles move or needing sampling methods that progressively remove the CT or disrupt processes one is observing. As the CT consists of clay particles coated in a fluorescent dye already used for environmental monitoring, the CT is suitable for large-scale environmental use with minimal environmental risk. Several valuable commercial applications have been identified for CTs within the environmental consultancy (EC) market including understanding:- Potential sources, pathways and sinks of clay sized particles and associated pollutants in water eg where pollutants are deposited and how those found in marine /freshwater sediments got there.- The effectiveness of mitigation measures for trapping and removing clay sized material from surface waters.- Understanding the movement of clay sized material through industrial processes e.g waste recycling facilities.- Tracing the movement of polluted or nuisance wind-blown dusts from industrial sites.A basic commercial strategy supported by intellectual property protection is in place for the CT, plus some understanding of the EC market and benefits of the CT over its competitors. However, market research expertise is needed to help us better understand the market, its size, identify potential ECs interested in using the technology and what type of CT product these businesses need. With this information we'll be better placed to establish demonstration projects and commercial relationships to get the CT used by ECs in the above and other applications. We also need to understand: who can produce the CT in 100Kg quantities, check production of tonne quantities won't need REACh registration and see if a strategy for strengthening our patent application can work. Our objectives are:1 Subscribe to Environment Analyst (E An.) and digest the information in several global and UK EC market and company reports, to understand the CT market size.2 Identify and access any other significant sources of market research to understand the CT market in the UK and other significant markets: Europe, North America, Australia, Middle East, China and Africa.3 Use lists of major then smaller EC companies identified by E An. in the UK and globally to determine: who uses particle tracers, for what purposes and if our CT is of interest.4 Conduct open interviews initially focusing on UK ECs likely to be interested in a CT to confirm if CTs are really of interest to them and answer many other questions.5 Undertake a SWOT analysis on the CT.6 Identify an initial route to commercialise the CT and a list of ECs for initial discussions.7 Identify companies able to produce CTs in 100Kg quantities, and understand: any scale-up issues, costs for CTs of different particle size ranges, any legislative issues and recommended storage options.8 Check if both CT components needed for larger-scale production are already REACh registered by potential suppliers, minimising the risk that further scale-up will need registration of the CT itself.9 Determine via patent searches if a route exists to strengthen our CT patent application.UK Stakeholders: Inventors, EA, SEPA, ECs, CT producers.