SBIR Phase I: e-CHEM: A fully-autonomous connected in-situ chemical sensor

SBIR 第一阶段：e-CHEM：完全自主连接的原位化学传感器

• 批准号: 1747293
• 负责人: Joyce Wong
• 金额: $ 22.5万
• 依托单位: FLUIDION US Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1747293&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; CHEM; fully; autonomous

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project addresses a great demand for in-situ chemical sensor technology with ability to (1) Measure with high resolution the environmental footprint of agricultural and urban development, and (2) Identify potential safety issues related to drinking water quality. High concentrations of nutrients (e.g. nitrate, nitrite, orthophosphate) in surface waters are the source of environmental, public health, and economic issues. Active monitoring of nutrient concentrations in surface waters such as estuaries, lakes and rivers is critical in assessing their health and implementing timely action to minimize ecosystem degradation. This SBIR project aims at developing a disruptive new type of highly miniaturized autonomous water quality chemical sensor, that can be operated remotely and autonomously, has minimal installation and maintenance requirements, is capable of performing thousands of measurements directly in-situ, in both reagent-based and reagent-less configuration, on a single battery charge. Applications that will greatly benefit from such sensors range from scientific research, to estimating nutrient loads, establishing discharge limits, predicting eutrophication conditions and demonstrating compliance with regulatory reporting requirements. Independently, the drinking water industry has its own requirements for autonomous chemical sensors for monitoring reservoirs and distribution networks, optimizing treatment processes and identifying tank nitrification issues early-on. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to achieve the highest level of miniaturization and functionality attempted in a commercial water quality sensor. The core innovation of this proposed e-CHEM system is in the microfluidic chemical analysis module, combining a novel highly-efficient mixing mechanism to homogenize minute volumes of reagent with the fluid sample with a microfluidic implementation of dual reagent-based and reagent-less chemical measurement capability, the possibility of controlling relevant chemical reactions in-situ via precise on-chip temperature management, and finally the potential of overcoming the important hurdle of bio-fouling via novel surface nano-engineering. The parameters measured will include a selection from: ortho-phosphates, nitrites, nitrates, dissolved organic carbon, total and/or free chlorine, free ammonia, and pH. The system will include bidirectional wireless telemetry to enable automatic alert generation and data transmission to remote servers for visualization, analysis and interpretation. Target accuracy and response times are superior to traditional measurement techniques due to full process automation, elimination of sample degradation and transit times, reduction of human error, and automatic data centralization.

该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力解决了对原位化学传感器技术的巨大需求，其能力（1）具有高分辨率的农业和城市发展环境足迹，以及（2）确定与饮用水质量有关的潜在安全问题。地表水中的高浓度营养素（例如硝酸盐，亚硝酸盐，正磷酸盐）是环境，公共卫生和经济问题的来源。在河口，湖泊和河流等地表水中积极监测养分浓度对于评估其健康和实施及时的作用以最大程度地减少生态系统降解至关重要。这个SBIR项目旨在开发一种破坏性的新型高度微型自动化水质化学传感器，可以远程和自动操作，具有最小的安装和维护要求，能够直接在基于基于试剂的和无试剂的配置中直接执行数千次测量。从科学研究到估计营养负荷，建立排放限制，预测富营养化条件并证明遵守监管报告要求的应用，将从科学研究到估计营养负荷，建立排放量，预测养分量，从而极大地受益。独立地，饮用水行业对自动化学传感器有其自身要求，用于监测储层和分销网络，优化治疗过程并提前确定坦克硝化问题。这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）I阶段项目旨在实现商用水质传感器尝试最高水平的小型化和功能。该提出的E-CHEM系统的核心创新是在微流体化学分析模块中，将一种新型的高效混合机制结合在一起，将试剂的微量体积与流体样品均匀均质，与微流体实现与基于双试剂的无用和基于基于双试剂的化学化学测量能力的可能性，从而可以控制相关的化学物质，从而使相关的化学物质的可能性通过跨性别的化学方法来控制。通过新颖的表面纳米工程设计生物污染的重要障碍。所测量的参数将包括以下选择：正磷酸盐，亚硝酸盐，硝酸盐，溶解有机碳，总和/或游离氯，游离氨和pH。该系统将包括双向无线遥测，以使自动警报生成和数据传输到远程服务器以进行可视化，分析和解释。由于完全过程自动化，消除样品降解和过境时间，减少人类错误以及自动数据集中，目标准确性和响应时间优于传统的测量技术。