SBIR Phase I: A portable water treatment unit using microfluidic cavitation mechanism

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project propose to use a highly effective microfluidic based process to clean and disinfect contaminated water. Veloctron will build the portable water treatment unit and test the efficiency in killing pathogens and removing particles. The feasibility of removing contaminants using micro bubble clusters and the subsequent degradation of pathogens and chemical compounds by imploding the bubble clusters will be tested. The broader/commercial impacts of this research are to provide solutions that would enable the use of potentially contaminated water in a crisis or in areas without proper water sanitation infrastructures. The use of untreated water poses a severe health threat to populations throughout the world. According to the CDC, over 100 million Americans obtain their water supply from ground water,and over 50% of the reported waterborne outbreaks were due to untreated water. In addition, the potential contamination of clean water sources during crises such as flooding, hurricanes, earth quakes, or terrorist attack poses additional challenges because the established water treatment infrastructure may be unavailable to respond in time.