Collaborative Research: ERASE-PFAS: A "concentrate-and-destroy" technology for treating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances using a new class of adsorptive photocatalysts

合作研究：ERASE-PFAS：一种使用新型吸附光催化剂处理全氟烷基和多氟烷基物质的“浓缩和破坏”技术

• 批准号: 2244985
• 负责人: Dongye Zhao
• 金额: $ 34.8万
• 依托单位: San Diego State University Foundation
• 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: 2022-10-01 至 2024-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2244985&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; ERASE; PFAS; concentrate

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been manufactured and widely used in hundreds of consumer products and industrial processes for decades. Release of PFAS into the environment has resulted in drinking water supplies for millions of U.S. residents to become contaminated at levels exceeding United States Environmental Protection Agency health advisory limits. Unfortunately, conventional water treatment processes are not effective at removing or destroying PFAS due to the unique molecular properties of these compounds. This has created an urgent national need for water treatment technology to address this problem. The goal of this research is to address this problem through a multi-phase research project focused on developing “trap and destroy” technology. This technology utilizes a new class of adsorptive materials to efficiently capture PFASs from water, followed by degradation using targeted ultraviolet and sunlight-assisted reaction. Successful completion of this research will benefit society through the production of effective PFAS treatment technology. Additional benefits result from increased scientific literacy through enhanced public awareness of PFAS contamination, as well as by increasing the diversity of the Nation’s STEM workforce by engagement of K-12, undergraduate, and graduate students from underrepresented groups in research and training.The overarching research goal of this project is to develop and fully characterize an innovative technology to cost-effectively remove and degrade PFAS from contaminated water. The technology is based on a new class of adsorptive photocatalysts that can selectively adsorb PFAS from water to the photoactive solid surface, and then destroy PFAS in situ under UV or solar light. This project will target both legacy PFAS and their newer substitutes such as GenX. The research goals will be accomplished through a series of interconnected research tasks to: i) develop adsorptive photocatalysts optimized for treatment of a wide range of PFAS, ii) characterize the speed, selectivity, and capacity of the adsorptive photocatalysts for PFAS treatment, iii) characterize UV- and solar-light solid-phase photocatalysis of the pre-adsorbed PFAS, and iv) explore ways to enhance photocatalysis through amendment with low-cost oxidants and manipulation of reaction conditions. The underlying reaction mechanisms will be investigated through all stages of the research using state-of-the-science microscopic and spectroscopic analyses of the materials, high-resolution spectroscopic analysis of the reaction products, and modern density functional theory calculations. A preliminary cost analysis will be carried out to assess the cost-effectiveness of the technology compared to alternative treatment options. Successful completion of the project will potentially lead to an innovative technology that can cost-effectively treat low concentrations of PFAS in large volumes of contaminated water. More broadly, the knowledge gained from this project will also advance our understanding of the synergistic effects of nanoscale hybrid phases and multiple redox cycles on the overall performance of reactive composite materials, and potentially transform our knowledge on fabrication and application of carbon-modified, multi-phase photocatalysts.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.

数十年来，已在数百种消费产品和工业过程中生产并广泛使用了多氟烷基物质（PFA）。将PFA释放到环境中已导致数百万美国居民的饮用水供应，以超过美国环境保护局健康咨询限制的水平受到污染。不幸的是，由于这些化合物的独特分子特性，常规的水处理过程无效地去除或破坏PFA。这产生了紧急的国家对水处理技术的需求，以解决这一问题。这项研究的目的是通过侧重于开发“陷阱和破坏”技术的多相研究项目来解决这一问题。这项技术利用一类新的吸附材料从水中有效捕获PFAS，然后使用靶向紫外线和阳光辅助反应降解。成功完成这项研究将通过生产有效的PFA治疗技术来使社会受益。通过提高公众对PFA污染的认识，以及通过K-12，本科生和来自代表性不足的研究和培训的研究生来增加国家STEM劳动力的多样性，从而提高了科学素养的额外好处，并增加了该项目的总体研究和培训的研究生。该技术基于一类新的吸附光催化剂，可以选择性地从水到光活性固体表面吸附PFA，然后在紫外线或太阳光下灭绝PFA。该项目将针对传统PFA及其较新的替代品（例如Genx）。研究目标将通过一系列相互联系的研究任务来实现：i）开发优化用于处理广泛PFA的吸附性光催化剂，ii）ii）表征了PFAS治疗的热门光催化剂的速度，选择性和能力通过使用低成本氧化物修改和操纵反应条件来增强光催化的方法。基本的反应机制将通过研究的所有阶段进行研究，使用材料的最先知和光谱分析，反应产物的高分辨率光谱分析以及现代密度功能理论计算。与替代治疗方案相比，将进行初步的成本分析，以评估技术的成本效益。该项目的成功完成将有可能导致一项创新的技术，该技术可以成本效益地处理大量受污染的水中的低浓度PFA。更广泛地说，从该项目中获得的知识也将提高我们对纳米级混合阶段和多种氧化还原循环对反应性复合材料总体性能的协同影响的理解，并有可能改变我们对碳模化的制造和应用的知识，这些知识是通过评估NSF的智力统计授权的智力统计授予的，这反映了NSF的成立，这是涉及NSF的众多概念。 标准。