Fibre optic sensor arrays for on-site monitoring of heavy metal contaminants in ground water including mercury, copper and nickel

汞、镍、铜和铅等重金属对环境的污染是对人类健康和生态系统的持续威胁。 据估计，美国燃煤电厂每年产生350，000磅汞，全球排放量估计为1，200万磅/年。 萨德伯里居民饮用的水中镍（一种已知的致癌物质）的含量是世界上最高的。 加拿大和美国的东西海岸也遭受着后工业时代的环境破坏。为了保护环境不受重金属等污染物的影响，必须在尾矿池、废弃矿山、制革厂、工业场地、军事基地、港口和废物控制设施（垃圾填埋场）等污染物含量高的地区提供有效的现场常规使用探测器。 目前，最常用和最好的补救策略是将有毒土壤分离并填埋;因此，监测填埋场环境对防止进一步污染至关重要。 目前，从现场周围的威尔斯井中采集样本后，进行场外处理。这是昂贵的，并且在预定采样之间使环境不受保护。通过遥测传递信息的光纤传感器上的化学选择性涂层的组合将导致传感器系统比任何现有技术更强大，更便宜和更快。 这些传感器阵列将有助于防止有毒化学品在未经监测的情况下释放到环境中，例如1994年发生的情况，当时数百万升受镍污染的废水从Inco矿山流入萨德伯里附近的Grassy Creek长达8天。该研究团队在材料科学、光纤和环境监测方面的综合专业知识，以及团队之间和与工业合作伙伴之间的合作，为环境监测技术的重大进步提供了独特的机会。

Contamination of the environment with heavy metals such as mercury, nickel, copper and lead is a continuing threat to human health and the ecosystem.  Coal-fired plants produce an estimated 350,000 lbs of mercury per year in the US and global emissions are estimated at 12 million lbs/year.  Sudbury residents drink water contaminated with the highest levels of nickel (a known carcinogen) in the world.  The east and west coasts of Canada and the US also suffer from post-industrial environmental damage. In order for the environment to be protected from pollutants, such as heavy metals, efficient detectors must be available for routine on-site use in areas with high levels of contaminants such as tailings ponds, abandoned mines, tanneries, industrial sites, military bases, ports and waste containment facilities (landfills).  Currently, the most commonly used and best remediation strategy is to separate toxic soils and landfill them; therefore, monitoring landfill environs is of critical importance to prevent further contamination.  Currently, collection of samples from wells surrounding the site is followed by off-site processing. This is expensive and leaves the environment unprotected in between scheduled sampling. The combination of chemically selective coatings on fibre optic sensors that relay information via telemetry, will result in a sensor system, which is more robust, cheaper and faster than any existing technology.  These sensor arrays will help prevent the unmonitored release of toxic chemicals into the environment, such as occurred  in 1994 when millions of litres of nickel-contaminated effluent flowed for 8 days from an Inco mine into Grassy Creek near Sudbury. The research team's combined expertise in material science, fibre optics and environmental monitoring, together with the established collaboration among the team and with the industrial partners, provides a unique opportunity for significant advances in environmental monitoring technology.