US Army awards contract to develop nanomaterial-based portable water purification system for removing chemical and biological agents
Argonide, a research-based nano materials manufacturer, has received notification from the US Defense Department that the company has been selected to receive a Phase I Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) award to develop a portable water purification system capable of removing biological and chemical terrorist agents.
The system's filter will use proprietary electropositive fibres that are about the size of a DNA molecule. When combined into a thin filter, these highly charged little fibers remove greater than 99.9999% (6 logs) of virus-size particles at high flow rates.
NanoCeram received R and D Magazine's award for 2002 as one of the top 100 most technologically significant new products of the year.
The DoD Chemical and Biological Defense (CBD) SBIR programme is part of a major effort to ensure safe and acceptable drinking water for military personnel.
Currently the US Army uses a reverse osmosis (RO) unit for mobile water treatment in the field, but it is too complex and too slow for small systems.
Current systems, particularly small portable ones, are unable to filter many biological agents as well as naturally occurring pathogens, such as Norwalk, a common intestinal virus found in untreated waters. NanoCeram effectively removes microbes without reactive chemicals such as chlorine that can produce carcinogenic by-products. Turbidity, inorganic particles and insoluble radioactive compounds would also be filtered by the system.
The portable water purifier has application for campers and back-packers. Argonide is now focused on residential point-of-use (POU) and point-of-entry (POE) water treatment devices and their potential role in protecting the public from threats of biological and chemical terrorism.
The NanoCeram POU is a simple fast flow filter capable of removing naturally occurring bacteria, cryptosporidium, and virus while meeting or even exceeding drinking water standards.
Widely publicised reports of contamination and pollution of municipal and private drinking water sources have motivated many people to consider buying a home water treatment system.
"NanoCeram filters, in development for four years, will have a major impact on home water purification" explains Fred Tepper, president of Argonide.
"We anticipate a wide range of other applications including pure water for laboratories, hospitals, medical and dental offices, industrial and food processing".
This effort has been aided by a Nasa SBIR (Phases I and II) that is currently active.
A cartridge for purifying recycled space cabin water will be provided to Nasa in September 2004.
