Real-Time Process Control Sensor for Measuring Arsenic Concentration in Water

Arsenic in drinking water is a severe health risk to populations throughout the world. In recognition of this risk, the Environmental Protection Agency recently lowered its water standard for arsenic from 50 ppb to 10 ppb. To comply with the new standard, there is an urgent need to develop new, simple, and effective systems to monitor this toxic substance in water. The overall objective of this SBIR project is to develop and demonstrate an easy-to-use reliable, field deployable, and practical real-time sensor device (sensor) that can be used to perform rapid on-site screening and quantitative determination (at ppb levels) of dissolved arsenic in drinking water. The proposed sensor will be accurate, sensitive and specific and be compact. The feasibility to develop an advanced, miniaturized sensor for detecting Arsenic in the sub-ppb was clearly demonstrated in Phase I. During this Phase II, a compact packaged prototype sensor instrument, including the sensor cell and the corresponding electronic circuitry, will be refined, prototyped and tested with real-world samples. The prototype sensor will include an electronics package for electrode potential control, data collection, and display. It is planned to yield sensor design specifications, and base information for establishment of fabrication and QC process protocols.