Grand Challenges: An Innovative Approach to Remove Emerging Organic Contaminants from the Environment
Grant Type: Individual Project Grant
Topics: Climate Change and Global Health
College Represented: ENGR
Grand Challenges Project Aims to Develop A New Adsorbent for the Removal of PFAS in the Environment
September 25, 2024
EPA Awards Nearly $1.2M to Student Teams for Innovative Solutions to Environmental and Public Health Challenges
March 14, 2024
Connecting Our Future Scientists and Engineers to Environmentally Friendly Water Treatment Technology in the Post-COVID Era: A Better World Starts with Your Bioreactor (Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors)
February 22, 2024
Summary:
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are ubiquitous emerging contaminants (ECs) that are persistent throughout the environment, bioaccumulative in ecosystems, and ultimately enter human bodies via the food web, threatening the public health and ecosystem safety. Currently, the presence of PFAS in all types of waters and human bodies throughout the U.S. has been documented. However, cost-effective individual techniques for simultaneously removing PFAS compounds are still not available. This project is developing a new adsorbent through an innovative bio-chemically process for enhancing the removal of both short- and long- chain PFAS in environments. The new adsorbent should be readily transferable to different regions in the U.S., where they can be easily customized for use at varying site sizes and dimension constraints.
PI: Guangbin Li (ENGR),
Assistant Professor,
Civil and Environmental Engineering