A team at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, led by civil and environmental engineering professor Jia Liu, is pioneering a new technology to remove PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” from contaminated groundwater.
With a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, the three-year project, which began in September 2023, uses magnetic nanomaterials and a combination of dark-light adsorption and photocatalysis to treat water.
PFAS are commonly found in many everyday products, from firefighting foams to Teflon coatings, and are known to persist in the environment, posing potential health risks.
Liu’s approach uses iron-carbon nanohybrid materials to first concentrate PFAS under dark conditions, then degrades them using ultraviolet light.
This innovative two-phase method allows for the treatment of large water volumes more effectively.
The research builds on Liu’s earlier work funded by the EPA, which demonstrated the use of iron nanomaterials to remove PFAS from wastewater.
Now, the team’s focus extends to addressing other contaminants, such as chlorinated solvents, often found alongside PFAS.
By 2026, the researchers aim to construct a pilot-scale reactor that could provide a sustainable solution for remediating groundwater aquifers contaminated by harmful substances.
The project could significantly advance efforts to protect water resources from persistent pollutants.
