SBIR Phase II: Evaluating the Feasibility of a fully-automated, on-line, real-time analyzer for simultaneous determination of individual THMs and HAAs

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is in the ability of the haloacetic acids (HAAs) analyzer proposed here to change how superintendents of drinking water utilities go about understanding their drinking water treatment plants. The HAAs analyzer will allow superintendents to continuously map, monitor and then optimize their drinking water treatment practices using detailed and high quality measurements on the federally-regulated HAAs, which are carcinogens. Optimizing of the water treatment practices using the HAAs analyzer will reduce chemical usage (save money) while simultaneously providing the highest quality drinking water for their customers by minimizing HAAs. The commercial U.S. market for Drinking Water chemicals, contract operations, consulting/engineering, instrument and testing is $19.3 billion. The entire U.S. Water industry market is $86.4 billion. The major target of this proposal is the 28,643 traditional community water systems serving 90 % of the U.S. population. Some water systems struggled to meet Stage 1 Disinfection By-Product (DBP) regulations. Stage 2 of these regulations is stricter. The DBP regulations address long-term (decades' timescale) exposure to HAAs. Superintendents can use the proposed HAAs analyzer to understand hourly, short-term variations in their treatment plants to enhance long-term minimization of HAAs. This project will commercialize the first state-of-the-art instrument for fully automated, on-site process monitoring of the drinking water disinfection by-products known as haloacetic acids (HAAs). The HAAs analyzer proposed here has the potential to significantly reduce the cost of water treatment through reduction of treatment chemical usage at the water treatment plant while simultaneously improving and stabilizing water quality with respect to the carcinogenic and federally regulated HAAs. Currently, most drinking water treatment plants use contract laboratories to determine HAAs concentrations in the distribution system. This approaches can take 2 - 3 weeks to return the results at a significant expense for the equivalent hourly data provided by the proposed HAAs analyzer. The research objectives for this Phase II SBIR proposal are to develop components for the HAAs analyzer to enable long-term, maintenance free operation with minimal operator intervention. Simultaneously, costs will be reduced for both construction and operation of the HAAs analyzer to establish commercial feasibility. The anticipated results will be a HAAs analyzer that will provide water treatment personnel individual and Total HAAs concentrations once per hour, on-site and automatically.