TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS) Human presence on the Moon, Mars or other remote base locations will have minimal or no re-supply of resources. These missions will require a completely self-contained comprised of regenerative physicochemical and biological technologies to sustain the crew. One of the highest priorities is to process and recover clean water. Monitoring the purity of the water is, therefore, of critical importance. State-of-the-art ground-based instrumentation is widely available, however these technologies are not suitable for spaceflight because of weight, volume, power and microgravity limitations. Recent advances in microfluidics permit development of new analytical methods that will meet the requirements of the spaceflight environment. Lynntech proposes development of a microfluidic ion analyzer, which minimizes the requirements for reagents, can be designed and operated as a hand-held instrument and will be capable of monitoring a wide range of ionic species not previously available in any commercial instrument. In Phase I study, major components of the analyzer for cation analysis were fabricated and tested, demonstrating the detection of ammonium at the level as low as 0.1 ppm. This Phase II project will develop a hand-held device to offer analysis of multiple cations and anions, including ammonium, nitrite and nitrate, which can be used in spaceflight.
POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS Although the proposed ion analyzer focuses upon monitoring of water quality in a regenerative life support system, and the analyzer can be used for a wide range of applications. Its applications include, but are not limited to, monitoring water quality in wastewater and drinking water, monitoring acid rain, analysis of nutrients in freshwater and agricultural run-off, analysis of ingredients in foods and beverages, measurements of electrolytes in biological samples, etc. A number of other Federal Agencies will also benefit by using the proposed analyzer; EPA for environmental monitoring, USDA for beverages analysis, NIH for monitoring electrolytes in bodily fluids, etc. The proposed self-contained reagentless analyzer can be used as a remotely located monitoring device or process instrument. This device only requires a supply of deionized water and a waste drain to analyze a process stream. The results can conceivably be reported via wireline or cellular phone. This analyzer can be an alternative to a widely used laboratory-based ion chromatograph, yet offering a rapid, simple and on-site measurement at a much lower cost. The proposed analyzer can be also an alternative to ion-selective electrodes, but with much more sensitive detection limits and little interference with similar ions, at a comparable price.
NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip) Duncan Hitchens Lynntech, Inc. 7610 Eastmark Drive College Station , TX 77840 - 4024
NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip) Lynntech, Inc. 7610 Eastmark Drive College Station , TX 77840 - 4024