Removing ‘forever chemicals’ from contaminated drinking water supplies
The presence of PFAS (“forever chemicals”) in drinking water is an urgent public health crisis: these chemicals have been linked to serious health effects like cancer and thyroid disease, and studies show over 98 percent of Americans have PFAS in their blood. Current mitigation strategies focus on removing the chemicals through reverse osmosis and absorption, followed by incineration at extremely high temperatures. These methods are energy-intensive, produce toxic byproducts, and often fail to completely break down the chemicals. Using samples from water treatment facilities, this project aims to develop novel materials that effectively capture PFAS without generating harmful secondary pollutants and to explore low-temperature, solid-state reactions that convert PFAS into environmentally stable compounds.