Collaborative Research: ERASE-PFAS: Hydrothermal Treatment as a Strategy for Simultaneous PFAS Destruction and Recovery of Energy and Nutrients from Wastewater Residual Solids

合作研究：ERASE-PFAS：水热处理作为同时破坏 PFAS 并从废水残留固体中回收能量和养分的策略

• 批准号: 2207191
• 负责人: Jeremy Guest
• 金额: $ 20.79万
• 依托单位: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-08-01 至 2025-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2207191&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; ERASE; PFAS; Hydrothermal

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are fluorinated organic chemicals that are used in numerous consumer products and industrial applications. During the last decade, PFAS have emerged as priority pollutants due to increasing concerns about their persistence, stability, and toxicity to humans and other living organisms as they accumulate in the environment. The increasing detection of PFAS in sludge and biosolids from water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) has raised serious concerns about using these solids in agriculture and farming as soil amendments, and sources of organic matter and nutrients. The goal of this collaborative project is to evaluate the use of hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) as a platform technology to advance the simultaneous destruction of PFAS and recovery of liquid fuel and nutrients from sludge. The HTL process uses high temperature (250-350°C) and high pressure (100-250 bar) to break down PFAS-in sludge from WRRFs in a specially designed reactor. The proposed research will evaluate the effectiveness of HTL to remediate PFAS-laden sludges while producing liquid fuel and nutrients. The successful completion of this project will benefit society through the development of new fundamental knowledge and technology to advance the cost-effective remediation and management of PFAS-laden sludges from WRRFs. Additional benefits to society will be achieved through outreach and educational activities including the mentoring of a graduate student at Colorado School of Mines and a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.The detection of PFAS in agricultural fields and farms where sludges were applied to the land has raised serious concerns about the land application of sludge, a farming practice commonly used to improve soil quality and crop yields. The goal of this collaborative research is to evaluate and advance the application of hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) as an alternative technology for managing PFAS-laden sludges from water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs). This goal will be advanced through a combination of experiments and modeling efforts with a focus on two critical objectives: (1) identify HTL process conditions that ensure destruction of PFAS that accumulate in sludges from WRRFs; and (2) develop and apply a system modeling framework to optimize sludge valorization through the recovery of fuel and valuable products (e.g., nutrients) while safely destroying the PFAS contaminants. The proposed experiments will evaluate the destruction of PFAS and track the mass balances of the carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus that are generated during sludge HTL. The results of the HTL experiments will inform and guide the development and validation of process modules that will be incorporated into QSDsan (Quantitative Sustainable Design for sanitation and resource recovery), an open-source modeling framework for optimizing resource recovery from wastewater and waste biomass. Model predictions that optimize resource recovery while destroying PFAS will then be validated with sludges and digested biosolids obtained from several WRRFs. The successful completion of this project has the potential for transformative impact through the development and validation of a new technology that addresses sludge PFAS contamination while advancing the recovery of valuable products. To implement the education and outreach activities of the project, the Principal Investigators (PIs) plan to leverage an existing REU program at Colorado School of Mines (CSM) to broaden participation in STEM education by recruiting students who have not previously participated in undergraduate research. In addition, the PIs plan to 1) conduct virtual workshops to support and broaden the use of QSDsan modeling by the water research community and 2) develop summer camp activities on resource recovery from waste streams for K-6 students that will participate in a summer camp for children with dyslexia at CSM.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

全氟烷基物质和多氟烷基物质 (PFAS) 是氟化有机化学品，在过去十年中用于众多消费品和工业应用，由于人们越来越担心它们的持久性、稳定性以及对人类和其他物体的毒性，PFAS 已成为优先污染物。水资源回收设施 (WRRF) 中的污泥和生物固体中检测到的 PFAS 越来越多，这引起了人们对在农业和耕作中使用这些固体作为土壤改良剂和来源的严重担忧。该合作项目的目标是评估水热液化（HTL）作为平台技术的使用，以促进同时破坏 PFAS 并从污泥中回收液体燃料和营养物。HTL 工艺使用高温。 (250-350°C) 和高压 (100-250 bar) 在专门设计的反应器中分解 WRRF 污泥中的 PFAS。拟议的研究将评估其有效性。 HTL 在生产液体燃料和营养物的同时修复富含 PFAS 的污泥，该项目的成功完成将通过开发新的基础知识和技术来推进对 WRRF 中富含 PFAS 的污泥的经济有效的修复和管理，从而造福社会。将通过外展和教育活动实现社会效益，包括指导科罗拉多矿业学院的一名研究生和伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校的一名研究生。污泥施用到农田和农场中的 PFAS 引起了人们对污泥土地施用的严重关注，污泥是一种通常用于改善土壤质量和作物产量的农业实践，这项合作研究的目标是评估和推进污泥的应用。水热液化（HTL）作为管理来自水资源回收设施（WRRF）的富含PFAS的污泥的替代技术将通过实验和建模工作的结合来推进这一目标，重点是两个。关键目标：(1) 确定 HTL 工艺条件，确保消除 WRRF 污泥中积累的 PFAS；(2) 开发并应用系统建模框架，通过回收燃料和有价值的产品（例如营养物质）来优化污泥增值同时安全地销毁 PFAS 污染物。拟议的实验将评估 PFAS 的销毁情况并跟踪污泥过程中产生的碳、氮和磷的质量平衡。 HTL 实验的结果将为流程模块的开发和验证提供信息和指导，这些模块将纳入 QSDsan（卫生和资源回收的定量可持续设计），这是一个用于优化废水和废物资源回收的开源建模框架。然后，将利用从多个 WRRF 获得的污泥和消化生物固体来验证优化资源回收同时破坏 PFAS 的模型预测，该项目的成功完成有可能通过开发产生变革性影响。并验证一项解决污泥 PFAS 污染的新技术，同时促进有价值产品的回收。为了实施该项目的教育和推广活动，首席研究员 (PI) 计划利用科罗拉多矿业学院 (CSM) 现有的 REU 项目。 ）通过招募以前未参加过本科生研究的学生来扩大对 STEM 教育的参与。此外，PI 计划 1）举办虚拟研讨会，以支持和扩大水研究界对 QSDsan 建模的使用，以及 2）开发。 CSM 反映了为 K-6 学生举办的废物流资源回收夏令营活动，这些学生将参加针对阅读障碍儿童的夏令营。这项 NSF 的法定使命，通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响进行评估，被认为值得支持审查标准。