The WATERSCAN water monitoring biosensor we developed checks water quality in real-time and sends an early warning in case contamination by pesticides is detected. It measures the decrease in photosynthesis efficiency in microalgae in biofilm, caused by pesticides, measured by a Pulse Amplitude Modulated fluorometer. The device for monitoring toxic substances in water includes 2 chambers in series: a 1st monitoring chamber and a 2nd reference chamber with a purifying filter in between . Thus, it is possible to establish a local comparison between a biofilm in contact with purified water from toxic substances and another biofilm in contact with raw water and, with this, discriminate changes due to contaminants. The device contains also passive samplers (POCIS, DGT) that accumulate contaminants and that can be extracted and analysed in laboratory when the alarm is triggered. Finally, the prototype is easy to transport, that can fit in a 25 kg baggage.
Unique Value Proposition
What we offer is to check water quality in real time and to receive an alert in case a peak of contamination is detected. In particular, contamination due to pesticides, pharmaceuticals and heavy metals. The water monitoring for micro-contaminants is not efficient; the WATERSCAN biofilm-based sensor provides multiple benefits: real time measure, mixture toxicity detection, AI application.
Result's Influence on Policy
Most of superficial waters in EU (60%) don’t reach good quality status (info from EU river basin management plan) and this is mainly due to chemical pollution. For this reason, the EU parliament is taking some measures, e.g. a review of the WFD with more strict water quality limits and introducing the concept of mixture toxicity. WATERSCAN can support WFD with real time information on water quality and mixture toxicity impact. The EU financially support the building of infrastructures and technical solutions for a greener and smarter EU. WATERSCAN uses AI to manage data output and fit perfectly in this contest, supporting EU NEXT GENERATION program, for example considering improvement and digitalization of WWTP.
Intellectual property status
Granted Patent
Patent number : PCT/EP2024/061118
Desired business relationship
Technology selling
Patent licensing
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