Real-time, continuous and quantitative detection of bioavailable radionuclides and heavy metals in contaminated water at DOE sites (Topic: 20/b)

Heavy metal (such as lead, uranium, chromium etc.) contamination is a widespread concern that poses a problem for public health when contaminated water is consumed or enters the food chain. Monitoring our water resources is important to achieve timely remediation. Heavy metal testing is typically done in the laboratory by sophisticated analytical techniques that are time consuming and expensive. A few spot test kits are available, however there is a lack of any accurate, low maintenance, inexpensive continuous monitoring solution. We will commercialize an on-site, real-time continuous monitoring devise for detection and quantification of hazardous metals at concentrations below the regulatory limits in water matrices such as potable, ground, surface and industrial waters, while generating minimal, non-hazardous waste. It will allow for unattended operations for up to 30-days, while measuring water samples for a specified metal at a frequency as low as 2 minutes. There is a number of benefits which include reduced travel expense (reagents are replaced once every 30 days), monitoring is day and night providing a larger amount of data and human error is low. This will be beneficial for a large number of industries, environmental service firms and local agencies that will be able to monitor their effluent streams, rivers, lakes etc. This devise can be used as a tool in DOE's environmental management program for monitoring and remediation of water that is contaminated with radionuclides and heavy metals as a result of the range of activities associated with nuclear weapons program, such as in the Oak Ridge site, Tennessee and the Rifle site, Colorado,. In the Phase I project, an initial prototype was designed and developed and tested successfully for detection of uranium. Hardware components were selected or custom made. The continuous monitoring equipment utilizes novel catalytic DNA (DNAzyme) based fluorescent biosensors for effective detection and quantification of hazardous metals. In the Phase II project, we will complete the development of a wall mounted online monitoring device for metals including lead, uranium, cadmium, mercury, copper and chromium. Pre-treatment units will be integrated to allow for monitoring environmental water, such as well, lakes and rivers. It will be deployed at field sites to obtain data for several applications, such as monitoring groundwater and monitoring industrial effluents.