Autonomous Monitor for Toxic Gas Exposure

有毒气体暴露自主监测器

• 批准号: 10080038
• 负责人: Chien Nguyen
• 金额: $ 22.5万
• 依托单位: ZEBRA ANALYTIX, INC.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-07-01 至 2021-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10080038
• 关键词: Address; Air; Air Pollutants; Benzene; Calibration; Ceramics; Chemicals; Coal; Detection; Devices; Elements; Evaluation; Exhibits; Gas Chromatography; Gases; Generations; Goals; Health; Health Hazards; Heating; Industrialization; Length; Measurement; Metals; Methods; Microfluidic Microchips; Microfluidics; Miniaturization; Modeling; Monitor; Oils; Performance; Petroleum; Phase; Play; Poison; Power Plants; Prevalence; Process; Production; Ramp; Research; Safety; Sampling; Sensitivity and Specificity; Site; Small Business Innovation Research Grant; Source; Specificity; System; Temperature; Thick; Time; Toluene; Tube; Width; Workplace; Xylene; base; carcinogenicity; cold temperature; cost effective; design; detector; ethylbenzene; hazard; innovation; instrument; meetings; novel; phase 1 study; photoionization; pressure; professional atmosphere; prototype; seal; sensor; volatile organic compound

Project Summary The overall goal of this SBIR project is to develop a miniature, microfarbicated gas chromatography (micro GC) device for autonomous, specific monitoring of toxic VOC (volatile organic compound) exposure in the workplace. Integration of multiple critical GC components into a single chip is the key differentiator of the micro GC. Specific aims of the Phase I study include prototyping of a novel microGC column, demonstration of on-chip temperature control, and proof of concept of monolithic integration. The final product will be a plug-and-play micro GC with capabilities of on-board carrier gas generation, sampling, and calibration. Many chemical and industrial processes cause emissions of VOCs. Some VOCs are toxic or even carcinogenic, posing a serious health hazard to workers. As a result, there is an urgent need for workplace VOC exposure monitoring. Existing methods for assessment of VOC exposure, however, have major limitations. For example, both colorimetric detection tubes and photoionization sensors, while simple to deploy, lack specificity. Conventional GC instruments, although providing high specificity and sensitivity, are bulky and expensive to purchase, operate, and maintain, typically require offline sampling, and are thus not convenient or cost- effective for on-site monitoring applications. Currently, there is a critical unmet need for specific monitoring of VOC exposure in an autonomous and continuous manner. The proposed micro GC will provide an opportunity to address this requirement.

项目概要 该 SBIR 项目的总体目标是开发一种微型、微机械气体 色谱（微型气相色谱）装置，用于自主、特定地监测有毒 VOC（挥发性 有机化合物）暴露在工作场所。集成多个关键 GC 组件 集成到单个芯片中是微型气相色谱仪的关键区别所在。第一阶段研究的具体目标 包括新型 microGC 色谱柱的原型设计、片上温度控制的演示、 以及单片集成概念的证明。最终产品将是即插即用的微型 具有机载载气生成、采样和校准功能的 GC。 许多化学和工业过程都会产生挥发性有机化合物的排放。有些挥发性有机化合物是有毒的或 甚至致癌，对工人的健康造成严重危害。结果，有一个紧急的 需要对工作场所 VOC 暴露进行监测。现有的 VOC 评估方法 然而，暴露有很大的局限性。例如，比色检测管和 光电离传感器虽然易于部署，但缺乏特异性。传统的气相色谱仪器， 尽管提供了高特异性和灵敏度，但体积庞大且购买成本昂贵， 操作和维护通常需要离线采样，因此不方便或成本低 适用于现场监控应用。目前，对于特定的需求存在严重未满足的需求 以自主、连续的方式监测 VOC 暴露。拟议的微 GC 将提供满足此要求的机会。