UV LED Benzene Detector

The UV LED Benzene Detector is a post-fire water contaminant detector that provides people with a cheaper solution to test for water by using the chemical properties of UV rays.

Last year, our school district experienced a catastrophic fire. A huge number of students and staff were evacuated by the Marshall Fire on December 30th, 2021. Many teachers and students were evacuated, displaced for a significant period of time, and lost everything. Over 1100 structures were completely burned to the ground in our school district, causing students at our school to ponder about the question "What did the Marshall Fire do to our water?" This question then initiated our project. We observed the ash and skeletal structures of water pipelines, and noticed that the water pipelines were degraded after the disastrous fire. The water from this pipeline were all contaminated with an assortment of contaminants, with the most abundant being benzene. According to the CDC, benzene is a highly toxic colorless chemical, and is highly flammable. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, nearly 238,000 Americans are exposed to benzene each year. Some contributing factors to this rising issue is contamination itself, awareness about water quality and contamination, and more. Since benzene is such a common substance in many household objects, it poses a large threat if not used correctly. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry states that "leakage from underground gasoline storage tanks or from landfills and hazardous waste sites contain benzene", and these can be destroyed from fires. In this specific problem where benzene is present in contaminated water from water pipelines, benzene can be digested which can cause cells to disfunction such as causing bone marrow to limit the number of produced red blood cells. If benzene is digested, it can also damage the immune system by causing the loss of white blood cells, which could greatly detriment the human body in the future by weakening the immune system. This problem is very important and needs to be prevented to ensure the safety of these individuals as fire poses a large threat to the cleanliness of our water.

This device is a small handheld device that allows people to test their water for water contaminants like benzene. This device uses properties of chemistry, physics, and engineering to determine the presence of water contaminants. There will be a UV emitter such as a fluorescent light. This fluorescent light will emit UV rays, which causes the electrons in the benzene to react by producing a photon. The wavelength of this photon can be tracked, which eventually can determine whether the benzene is present or absent in the water. 

Our solution serves Americans who have been negatively impacted by fires, interested in the cleanliness of their water, and students who want to learn more about properties of chemistry and physics. This device also increase equity for the lower class as it provides a much more affordable option for lower class Americans to test their water. People who have been negatively impacted by fires are unsure about their water quality, and currently in Colorado, the only way to test the water quality is if you send a sample of water to a laboratory, and wait for a result. However, this method proves to be very inefficient as it is expensive, and takes a lot of time from weeks to months to get the result back. This new device that our team has designed allows users to get their result immediately within the matter of seconds, and it is also a much more affordable option for lower class Americans who struggle to test the cleanliness of their water. This device will also impact students as this device can teach students concepts of chemistry and physics, as well as increasing awareness on the importance of a clean water supply.

Our team is very well-positioned to deliver this solution. Our team is a very diverse group of individuals ranging from 9th grade to 11th grade who have backgrounds in all forms of business, science, mathematics, english, and more. Our team is currently built up of 2 9th graders, 1 10th grade, and 2 11th graders. We all attend Peak to Peak Charter School, and all have different strengths. This project is mainly composed of two teams. The technical side is composed of the sophomore and 2 juniors. The technical team focuses on the proof of concept, building the prototype, and creating the final product. The other side, is the market and business side. The two freshman work together to build a website, and finds ways to increase sales, and work on marketing and advertising. Since we have a range of strengths, our group is very well-positioned to deliver this solution and turn just a simple idea into reality. Our team is also very representative of the people we serve. Our close friends and family have been greatly impacted by the Marshall Fire. Many of our friends and family have lost everything due to the fire, and we (as a team) feel empathy toward these individuals and want to help in anyway shape or form. After asking many of our peers, they believe that this device could change their lives and revolutionize the water industry. Having clean water is such as great concern in our current community, and this device could greatly benefit the people in our close community in the Boulder Valley School District.

In order to understand the needs of the population we want to serve, we have personally asked many of our friends and family in our community to have an insight to our idea of creating a more efficient water tester. Many of the people we have talked to stated that they have never really tested their water and would be very interested in this concept. However, after realizing how long and expensive it is to test their water, they believed that it was a waste of time and money. After realizing that this device could not only decrease the amount of time it takes to test water, and allow the user to get results instantly, they believe that this device could revolutionize the water industry. Not only that, but many students also expressed a lot of interest in the chemistry and physics concepts regarding this. They all believed that this concept could be exploited even more and these students understand the importance of clean water usage. After talking with students, our team found many professionals in this field to support us. For example, we talked to many teachers at our school in Peak to Peak's science department, as well as talking to many professors in the Colorado State University chemistry department. They have all provided great insight into our project, and have all helped us move in the right direction.

This solution is very innovate and this idea provides a new and improved approach to the current problem of water quality from fires. This solution has not been thought of before; however, there is research backing up this concept. Recently, the University of British Columbia presented an idea showcasing how water contaminants can be tested from using fluorescent light. We are now using this concept and applying it into a device that could revolutionize the way people test for their water quality and test for contaminants. This device is expected to change the market as it allows people to test for their water with a much cheaper and more efficient solution. This device can also be used in many school settings as it allows for students to learn many chemistry and physics concepts, as well as increasing awareness for the importance of water cleanliness.

Our impact goals for the next year are to ensure the safety of people who have been negatively impacted by fires, increase awareness on the importance of water quality, and to increase equity for anyone who is trying to test for water contaminants. We will achieve this by creating and refurbishing the device, making it available to Americans and anyone else who plans on purchasing this product, and finally using the website to teach people the importance of this device, how to use it, how this initiative started, and the goal of the initiative. This will bring attention to the many problems that we are trying to solve. 

This devices uses the main concepts of chemistry, physics, and engineering to power the device. The device starts with a UV emitter, this could be a fluorescent light. UV rays have more energy than visible light because it has a smaller wavelength and higher frequency. When the UV rays come in contact with the electrons in the benzene, the electrons will gain energy, and it will cause the electron to jump an energy level. When the electron jumps an energy level, a photon of some wavelength will be released. A spectrometer/photoreceptor will be used to find the wavelength of the photon released, and in turn will use a CPU to calculate whether benzene is present or absent in the water. If the wavelength happens to be in the range of benzene's emission spectrum, the device will return red which says that the water is not safe for drinking. If the wavelength of the photon released is outside of the emission spectrum of benzene, then the device will return green saying that the water is clean and good to drink.

This project currently serves many people in our community. As of right now, 1100 people were lost everything during the fire, and even more are worried about their water supply after the Marshall Fire that occurred in the Boulder Valley School District. Within the next year, this project plans to expand to the online market which will impact over 200,000 Americans as over 200,000 Americans are either directly or indirectly impacted by fires in areas all over the country. This will guarantee the safety of these people's water, and ensure that their water quality is clean and safe for usage. This device can also have a positive impact in the younger community as it can teach many individuals concepts of chemistry and physics, and increase awareness about the importance of clean water. 

Some barriers that currently exist for our team to accomplish our goals are funding and technical support. As high school students, we lack in funding to buy the resources necessary to prototype this device, and we lack the information and technical information to prove the concept of UV rays on benzene. Another large barrier is the marketing and advertising side of this because after this device launches onto the online and current market, there is no way that we have the funding and resources to start advertising for our device. Without advertising, very few people will be able to find this device and be able to implement it into their daily lives. 

We are working with the teachers at Peak to Peak Charter school and the Peak to Peak chemistry and physics department by using their resources. We are also in collaboration with Colorado State University by using some of their chemistry department resources as well as gaining useful information from professors.

Our UV LED Benzene Detector will serve as a device for everyone to test their water quality in the most efficient manner, saving both time and money for people who live in areas that have been negatively impacted by fires. These beneficiaries include members of the poorer communities as this device helps take a another step toward equity in today's society, and provides a cheaper more efficient way to test for water quality. This product would provide customers a device, and manual on the usage of this device. The device will be super easy to use as all they have to do is take a water sample, and flick a switch. Then the spectrometer will return either a red light if benzene is present, or a green light if it is clean. These devices will come in packages through ordering online on our website, and we will make it available on other larger online shopping platforms such as Amazon, EBay, and Etsy. These products are necessary for anyone who has come in contact with fire, or whether they are just curious about the cleanliness of their water. This device also gives people a much more affordable option to test their water, and they will get their results instantly. 

We will first propose this idea to different companies who will award our project with grants. These grants will help support the start up of this product, and these grants will help the design process, creation of the refurbished product, and advertising and marketing. Then after this device hits the market and there is an income, people, businesses, school districts, etc. will all buy this product. The income gained can be used to create and manufacture more of these devices. Long term, our device is very sustainable as people can also buy these devices to teach students chemical properties, and increase the awareness about the importance of clean water. This project is very innovative and sustainable in the long term.