Research Project
9467147
Chlorination of swimming pools is necessary to insure swimmers health; however, this process results in the formation of organic and inorganic chloramines. The presence of volatile inorganic chloramines proximate to the water surface cause a variety of maladies (i. e. irritation to the eyes, skin, and respiratory system). The concentration of the chloramines tend to accumulate specifically in indoor pools. In response to this problem, the CDC developed a voluntary health code (MAHC) to guide relevant authorities for best practices to insure the health and safety of swimmers. One hole in this guidance is the lack of a commercial test kit to determine the amount of inorganic chloramines in this environment. In response to the stated needs of the CDC/ National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), proposed herein in this Phase I SBIR is a sensor system for the specific and direct detection of inorganic chloramines in the vapor phase near the water surface. This system will allow both periodic detection and upon optimization long-term unattended monitoring with an electronic sensor platform developed by Seacoast Science Inc. During the Phase I work, the concept will be validated against onsite generated chloramines in the presence of various interfering analytes (primarily water vapor). To accomplish the Phase I proof of concept work, the following tasks are proposed: selection of initial sensor coatings; initial screening/down selection of coatings on two sensor platforms; and coating and testing optimum materials on the best sensor platform.
