SPORIAN MICROSYSTEMS, INC — Department of Energy SBIR Phase I: 20b

Description

There is a present and growing emphasis on reducing or maintaining the wateruse footprint in the energy sector. One of the requirements for effectively managing water is monitoring through reliable, realtime, measurementbased data of water quality/composition within treatment systems and bodies of water associated with power generation facilities. Many existing water quality sensor technologies are expensive, large, difficult to install or deploy, and expensive, which inhibits utilities ability to deploy a network of such sensors. What is needed is the development of an integrated water sensor package that is lowcost, rapidlydeployable, wireless, and selfpowered, that can relay realtime relevant insitu water measurements. Ideally such hardware would simultaneously monitor multiple water quality factors and contaminants at a reduced overall cost. Sporian proposes to heavily leverage our mature water quality monitoring sensor and sensor system technology/hardware, which includes many of the needed water quality sensor types, and extend the sensing capability of the systems to include heavy metal contamination RCRA 8s) through the use of Imprinted Polymer IP) based detection materials/schemes. Preparing, optimizing, and characterizing IP systems, evaluating IP film fabrication methodologies, and experimentally evaluating/demonstrating IP sensing performance with Sporians existing sensor system hardware. The proposed technology will support reducing or maintaining the wateruse footprint in the energy sector, providing low cost to deploy, reliable, real time, measurementbased data for water management. Such a technology will be highly attractive for broad application within energy, industrial/agricultural, and civilian drinking water and wastewater monitoring sectors that require sanitary water for consumption or whose processes affect water and need a sensor to assure proper contamination monitoring and abatement.