I-Corps: Chlorine-Free Water Disinfection System

I-Corps：无氯水消毒系统

• 批准号: 2140988
• 负责人: Xing Xie
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: Georgia Tech Research Corporation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-08-01 至 2022-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2140988&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Chlorine; Free; Water; Disinfection; Corps; Chlorine; Free; Water; Disinfection

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to enable better approaches for water disinfection. For the last century, chlorine disinfection has improved human health in developed nations worldwide by reducing waterborne diseases like typhoid, cholera, and dysentery. More recently, there has been increased scrutiny on chlorine's contribution to potentially harmful disinfection by-products (DBPs). This project develops a more accessible, sustainable, and safe method to disinfect drinking water. The proposed technology is both energy-efficient and chlorine-free, and can be used for short-term outdoor activities like camping or hiking, emergency response after disasters such as earthquakes or hurricanes, as well as point-of-use (POU) treatment systems for hospitals, remote areas, and developing communities. The technology can also be integrated into POU systems like water bottles, faucets, tabletop pitchers, shower heads, and even swimming pools. The approach can be potentially retrofitted directly into existing pipelines to provide antimicrobial benefits over the entire distribution system while also reducing the residual chlorine.This I-Corps project develops a chlorine-free disinfection technology that synergistically uses a locally-enhanced electric field and the natural biocidal effects of copper to kill pathogens in drinking water. This approach enables high microbial inactivation with low copper doses and low electrical energy consumption. The underpinning mechanism exploits the lightning rod effect by applying a low voltage to electrodes with coaxial configurations and/or nanowire-modified surfaces. This enhanced electric field is capable of not only inactivating pathogens directly upon contact but also increasing the permeability of cell membranes for microbial copper uptake, resulting in more effective inactivation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是为了提供更好的水消毒方法。在上个世纪，氯消毒通过减少伤寒，霍乱和痢疾等水性疾病，改善了全球发达国家的人类健康。最近，人们对氯对潜在有害的消毒副产品（DBP）的贡献进行了增加的审查。 该项目开发了一种更容易获得，可持续和安全的方法来消毒饮用水。所提出的技术既节能又无氯，可用于短期户外活动，例如露营或远足，地震或飓风等灾难后的紧急响应，以及用于医院，偏远地区和发展中社区的医院的点使用（POU）治疗系统。该技术还可以集成到诸如水瓶，水龙头，桌面投手，淋浴头，甚至游泳池之类的POU系统中。该方法可以直接将其直接翻新到现有的管道中，以在整个分配系统中提供抗菌益处，同时还可以减少残留的氯。此I-Corps项目开发了一种无氯的消毒技术，该技术协同使用本地增强的电场和铜在饮用水中的铜效应。这种方法可实现高铜剂量和低电能消耗的高微生物失活。基础机制通过将低压施加到具有同轴构型和/或纳米线修饰的表面的电极上，从而利用了避雷针效应。这种增强的电场不仅能够直接在接触后直接灭活病原体，而且还可以增加细胞膜对微生物铜的吸收的渗透性，从而更有效地失活。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并且通过使用该基金会的知识分子优点和广泛的影响来评估NSF的法定任务，并被认为值得通过评估。