Rapid, Portable Analyzer For Mobile Measurements Of Trace Level Volatile Organic Compounds

Project Summary Title: Rapid Portable Analyzer for Mobile Measurements of Trace Level Volatile Organic Compounds PD: Manish Gupta Nikira Labs Inc. Summary (250 words max) In this SBIR effort Nikira Labs Inc. proposes to utilize its patent-pending non-paraxial multipass cell (NPMC) method coupled with a widely-tunable mid-infrared quantum cascade laser to develop a portable analyzer capable of making rapid (1 Hz) measurements of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at trace levels (ppb-levels). The system will provide speciation and concentration of VOCs aboard a mobile platform for studies of pollutant emissions and their impact on air quality to specific neighborhoods. These VOCs have been implicated in direct health effects odor and the formation of particulate matter (PM2.5). In Phase I Nikira Labs will fabricate the hardware electronics and software for the prototype mobile analyzer. After laboratory testing to determine the sensor's analytical performance on select VOCs the unit will be integrated into a vehicle and used for VOC quantification and speciation in urban and rural areas. Finally the Phase I results will be used to design a ruggedized Phase II VOC sensor for agricultural air quality studies. In Phase II Nikira Labs will collaborate with USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) to deploy the sensors for direct studies agricultural emissions and their impact on neighboring communities. The deployments will target a variety of crop livestock and geographics areas. The data will be directly correlated to other measurements of air quality including particulate matter loading (PM2.5). The sensor resulting from this SBIR effort will be commercialized to develop instruments for research air quality and semiconductor industries.