Project description
Continuous in situ soil monitoring harnessing lab-on-a-chip microfluidics and optoelectronics
Soil degradation is threatening our economy and our well-being. Regenerating and maintaining healthy soil is a key component of the European Green Deal, essential to achieving climate neutrality, zero pollution, sustainable food provision and a resilient environment. Building on the European Research Council-funded BEAMOLED project, the European Innovation Council-funded SOILMONITOR project will develop a miniaturised sensor system (3 cm x 3 cm x 5 cm) capable of maintenance-free operation in situ for one year. It will monitor nitrate, ammonium and phosphate based on integration of a lab-on-a-chip microfluidic cartridge with an optoelectronic detection unit. The project is intended to lead to the establishment of a spin-off company, combining science with entrepreneurship.
Objective
The soil of the earth is the basis of our life. Efficient use of soil is needed for feeding the growing population. Contaminated soil needs to be regenerated to protect the quality of drinking water and more generally the ecosystem. Here, we propose a highly miniaturized sensor system for monitoring nitrate, ammonium, and phosphate based on integration of a lab-on-a-chip microfluidic cartridge with an optoelectronic detection unit. The optoelectronic detection chip employs the directional organic light emitting diode (OLED) we developed within the ERC PoC project BEAMOLED. This kind of OLED allows for direct integration of the optoelectronic chip with the microfluidic cartridge providing a new level of miniaturization of the optical readout measurement system. We propose the use of colorimetric assays based on starting with standard assays and improving performance using nanozyme catalysis. A hydrophilic ceramic as inlet to a microfluidic channel is proposed for intake of soil solution. Reagents as well as the waste are stored in the sensor system. We target a system size of 3 cm x 3 cm x 5 cm for maintenance-free operation in the soil for a duration of one year for in-situ monitoring of 100 data points per nutrient. In a soil-science study the soil-solution extraction into the microfluidic will be investigated for soils with a wide range of pore size distributions, bulk densities, pore-space connectivity, and soil water content to validate the extraction approach scientifically. Pot and field tests in agriculture and soil remediation are planned for validation in application-relevant environments of two potential markets and to develop market readiness. Our aim is to start a spin-off company after completion of this project. By the parallel development of the technology and business side with an interdisciplinary team from electrical engineering, chemical engineering, soil science, and economics/entrepreneurship an iterative adjustment process is achieved.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesclassical mechanicsfluid mechanicsmicrofluidics
- natural sciencesphysical scienceselectromagnetism and electronicsoptoelectronics
- engineering and technologyother engineering and technologiesmicrotechnologylab on a chip
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringnatural resources management
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensors
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Programme(s)
- HORIZON.3.1 - The European Innovation Council (EIC) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-BasedCoordinator
24118 Kiel
Germany