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New filter technology Technology has been developed to absorb “forever chemicals” at “ultra-fast” speeds.
Researchers say their findings Can greatly improve pollution controlAlthough they face multiple challenges before deploying the technology on a large scale.
In a new paper, scientists outline how layered double hydroxide (LDH) materials made from copper and aluminum absorb long chains perfluorosulfonic acid At “super-fast” speeds.
According to reports, this could be 100 times the rate of current filtration systems.
“forever chemicals“This is so because they do not degrade. They have been used in a variety of consumer and commercial applications since the 1950s. They are water and oil repellent, resistant to high temperatures, and act as “surfactants” by helping different types of liquids mix.
There are approximately 15,000 PFAS chemicals. Each has a slightly different chemical composition, but they all have at least two carbon-fluorine bonds. These extremely strong bonds mean that PFAS does not break down easily. So the bonds that give PFAS some of their unique properties also cause them to accumulate in our bodies and the environment and persist for decades.
Many PFAS are known to be toxic, including being linked to changes in liver and thyroid function and various cancers.
Filtration technologies currently in use include granular activated carbon, reverse osmosis and ion exchange, which work by absorbing PFAS in water. However, the chemicals captured in the filter must be stored in a hazardous waste treatment facility or destroyed in a high-temperature thermal process that creates toxic byproducts or simply breaks down PFAS into smaller PFAS.
Michael Wong, director of Rice University’s Water Institute, which developed the new technology, said the new process works by absorbing and concentrating high levels of PFAS, meaning it is non-thermal because the chemicals can be destroyed without the use of high temperatures.
The LDH material is similar to what has been used before, but the copper atoms replace some of the aluminum atoms, so the positively charged material attracts and absorbs large amounts of the negatively charged PFAS, he said.
“It absorbs 100 times faster than other materials,” Mr Wong said Tell The Guardian.
PFAS was thought to be nearly indestructible due to the bonds between carbon and fluorine atoms, but the team found that heating the material to 400 to 500 degrees Celsius—a relatively low temperature—breaks the bonds and leaves behind safe, disposable byproducts.
Additionally, new PFAS elimination systems often don’t work at scale, but researchers say LDH materials are highly absorptive and can be reused and used with existing infrastructure, which also removes a huge cost barrier.
“This material is very important to the overall research direction of PFAS destruction,” Mr. Huang added.