Rapid Real-Time High-Sensitivity Trichloroethylene Vapor Analyzer

描述（由申请人提供）：这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目将解决对痕量三氯乙烯（TCE）蒸汽传感器的需求。TCE是一种有毒的挥发性有机化合物（VOC），用作工业溶剂。三氯乙烯是一种常见的工业有毒废物场地的土壤污染物，它通过土壤迁移到远离原始污染场地的地方。从受污染土壤侵入建筑物的TCE蒸气将TCE蒸气集中在室内，对居住者构成健康风险。目前，TCE的监测方法是用化学活性材料捕获，然后在实验室分析这些材料;测量间隔为数小时或数天。测量间隔为几分钟的实时监测器将能够对建筑物内的TCE浓度进行真实的实时绘图，以定位蒸汽侵入点并监测进入建筑物的TCE数量。该映射将进入建筑物的TCE与室内TCE源区分开。Entanglement Technologies提出，基于结合固定相（如气相色谱法）的腔衰荡光谱（CRDS）和扩散飞行时间（DiTOF），确定开发TCE蒸汽传感器的可行性。CRDS提供了极其灵敏的检测，而固定相扩散提供了特异性。第一阶段的研究目标是在存在其他挥发性有机化合物和大气成分（如二氧化碳和水蒸气）的情况下，对空气中的三氯乙烯蒸气进行选择性检测。该项目将包括建立一个桌面CRDS/DiTOF原型气体分析仪，以测试TCE和其他VOC。预期的TCE灵敏度为20万亿分之一体积，测量时间约为10分钟，超过现有技术。本项目的长期目标是开发一种灵敏度为10 pptv的便携式TCE蒸气分析仪作为商业产品。另一个目标是使该项目产生的相同的基本分析仪设计适用于许多不同的痕量气体，包括大气和室内空气污染物以及痕量气体的组合。这样的分析仪系列将影响污染研究，控制和缓解，就像CRDS二氧化碳，甲烷和水分析仪目前影响温室气体和气候变化的研究一样。作为一个长期目标，CRDS/DiTOF技术将应用于生物医学科学，工业过程监测，环境修复和爆炸物检测。例如，基于扩散的选择性将被证明对于人类呼吸中的许多烃气体组分的分离和量化至关重要，这对于疾病的非侵入性诊断是有用的。类似地，CRDS/DiTOF可以实现对血液等液体的灵敏化学分析。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will address the need for a trace trichloroethylene (TCE) vapor sensor. TCE is a toxic volatile organic compound (VOC) used as an industrial solvent. TCE is a common soil contaminant at industrial toxic waste sites, and it migrates through the soil away from the original contamination site. TCE vapor intrusion into buildings from contaminated soil concentrates the TCE vapor indoors, where it poses a health risk to the occupants. Currently, TCE is monitored by capturing it with chemically active materials, and then analyzing those materials in a laboratory; the measurement interval is hours or days. A real-time monitor with a measurement interval of minutes would enable real- time mapping of the TCE concentration within a building, to locate vapor intrusion points of ingress and to monitor the quantity of TCE entering the building. The mapping distinguishes TCE entering the building from indoor sources of TCE. Entanglement Technologies proposes to determine the feasibility of developing a TCE vapor sensor based on the combination of cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) and diffusion time-of-flight (DiTOF) incorporating stationary phases (as in gas chromatography). CRDS provides extremely sensitive detection while diffusion with stationary phase provides specificity. The research objective for phase I is to demonstrate selective TCE vapor detection in air in the presence of other VOCs and atmospheric components (such as carbon dioxide and water vapor). The project will comprise building a table-top CRDS/DiTOF prototype gas analyzer to test with TCE and other VOCs. The anticipated TCE sensitivity is 20 parts per trillion by volume in a measurement time of approximately 10 minutes, surpassing existing technologies. The long term objective of this project is to develop a portable TCE vapor analyzer as a commercial product with a 10 pptv sensitivity. An additional objective is to adapt the same basic analyzer design resulting from this project to many different trace gases, including atmospheric and indoor-air pollutants, and combinations of trace gases. Such a family of analyzers will impact pollution research, control, and mitigation as much as CRDS carbon dioxide, methane, and water analyzers are currently impacting the study of greenhouse gases and climate change. As a long term objective, CRDS/DiTOF technology will be applied to biomedical science, industrial process monitoring, environmental remediation and explosives detection. For example, the diffusion-based selectivity will prove critical to the separation and quantification of the many hydrocarbon gas components in human breath useful for non-invasive diagnosis of disease. Similarly, CRDS/DiTOF can enable sensitive chemical analysis of liquids such as blood.