Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2020NJ025B

Carbon-Metal Nanohybrids (CMNHs)-Impregnated Reactive Electrochemical Membrane (REM) Filtration for PFAS Removal

Institute: New Jersey
Year Established: 2020 Start Date: 2020-03-01 End Date: 2021-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $5,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $10,874

Principal Investigators: Qingquan Ma

Project Summary: Currently, approximate 800 million people in the world lack access to hygienic drinking water, and this number will increase to approximately 4 billion by 2030 as estimated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Water Council (WWC). One of the threats comes from micropollution in water resulted from diverse industrial products or processes that release recalcitrant and toxic substances. For instance, PFOA, PFOS and other perfluorinated chemicals are detected in surface waters and groundwater of New Jersey (NJ), which constitute public drinking water systems (PWS). Total PFASs at one of these PWS is up to 330 ng/L, leading to higher potential human health risks. Studies have shown that conventional water or wastewater treatment processes are ineffective at removing perfluorochemicals. There is an urgent need for new water purification technologies that satisfy escalating worldwide demand for clean water. In this project, we aim to evaluate an innovative Carbon-Metal Nanohybrids (CMNHs)-impregnated Reactive Electrochemical Membrane (REM) to effectively address recalcitrant contaminants (such as PFOA and PFOS) in drinking water treatment.