An Official Website of the United States Government
Safe and Cost Effective Water Remediation, Enabled by an Online Perchlorate…
- Small Business Information
-
Woman-Owned: NoMinority-Owned: NoHUBZone-Owned: No
- Phase 2
-
Fiscal Year: 2010Title: Safe and Cost Effective Water Remediation, Enabled by an Online Perchlorate AnalyzeAgency: HHSContract: 2R44ES017200-02A1Award Amount: $845,409.00
Abstract:
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Perchlorate, ClO4-, is a small highly water soluble anion created by both geogenic and anthropogenic sources. Anthropogenic sources include solid rocket fuel, matches, dyes, paints, airbag inflators, pyrotechnics, flare s, and fertilizers. Human exposure to perchlorate is of concern because of the potential for impaired thyroid function, leading to a number of developmental delays and other medical problems. Most remediation projects rely on ion exchange resin bed reactor s that operate in series as a fail-safe measure for when the first resin bed loses its ability to capture perchlorate, namely, its exhaustion-limit. Resin beds and resins are the largest cost item in the remediation process. If an online monitoring device could be developed that would warn operators of a bed reaching its exhaustion-limit, remediation efforts could operate more cost- effectively and with greater public safety. In our successful Phase I effort, Advanced MicroLab, LLC (AML) worked with the Pr of. Henry Group at Colorado State University to transform a proof-of- principle laboratory experiment into a proof-of-concept commercial prototype for online analysis of perchlorate. Our prototype was field tested at a remediation pilot plant with our coll aborators, Applied Research Associates (ARA). Testing post-remediated water, perchlorate was baseline resolved from interfering ions with lt 1 5g/L limit-of-detection (LOD). Based on S/N, our device matched, if not out-performed, the gold standard, offlin e Ion Chromatography, in a side- by-side comparison. Additionally, we demonstrated resolution and reproducible detection of other ions in addition to perchlorate, such as, nitrate. In the proposed Phase II work, will transform a proof-of-concept prototype into a near- commercial demonstration unit meeting end-user specifications for online remediation processing. We will develop a companion field portable prototype for water source spot analysis in the field. We will also develop a companion analysis for ni trate and perchlorate from the same water sample. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The Department of Defense alone spends approximately 88 million annually on perchlorate-related research activities, including 60 million for perchlorate treatment technolo gies. In addition to remediation efforts, untold millions of dollars are spent to barricade contaminated sites and forcing to treat alternative non-contaminated water sources. The majority of the burden for the problem falls on the American citizen either through higher tax rates or municipal water rates. AML provides an innovative technology capable of significantly reducing these burdens through more cost-effective remediation efforts. Our market research conducted in collaboration with remediation techno logy experts concluded a typical remediation effort would save 0.65 - 1.73 million over a standard 20 year installation lifetime, which translates into a potential savings of 32.5 - 86.4M in California tax dollars alone. More importantly, remediation eff orts would be safer, benefiting public health. Remediation facilities have been known to fail with resin release into the public water system. Embedding a monitor within the process can detect malfunctioning equipment or abrupt environmental changes and fl ag the problem at an early stage before other system components fail.Small Business Information at Submission:Principal Investigator:
Philippe DeklevaBusiness Contact:
Philippe DeklevaADVANCED MICROLABS, LLC
ADVANCED MICROLABS, LLC PO BOX 272908 FORT COLLINS, CO -EIN/Tax ID: 120028669DUNS: N/ANumber of Employees: N/AWoman-Owned: NoMinority-Owned: NoHUBZone-Owned: No
Award Information
|
Agency: Department of Health and Human Services |
Branch: N/A |
Award ID: 89129 |
Program Year/Program: 2010 / SBIR |
|
Agency Tracking Number: ES017200 |
Solicitation Year: N/A |
Solicitation Topic Code: NIEHS |
Solicitation Number: N/A |