Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID IL_2023_Prada

Fast and Energy-Efficient Destruction of PFAS compounds with Piezoelectric Formulations on Aqueous Sorbents (FEED-PFAS)

Institute: Illinois
Year Established: 2023 Start Date: 2023-09-01 End Date: 2024-08-31
Total Federal Funds: $14,998 Total Non-Federal Funds: $15,003

Principal Investigators: Andres Prada

Project Summary: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are toxic chemicals that can be found in water and the environment. These chemicals resist conventional water treatments, thus the most common and effective new removal technology is absorption using carbon-based materials. However, the absorbed PFAS can later be released again into the environment. In this work we will optimize a mechanism to destroy PFAS contained in sorbents or solids. Our mechanism consists of a ball mill with stainless steel balls and some catalysts that interact with each other to generate high electric potentials that can destroy the chemical structure of PFAS. We will optimize this mechanism by testing different catalysts to ultimately reduce treatment time and energy consumption.