Summary

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), often referred to as “forever chemicals,” are a family of over 9,200 chemicals. Research indicates a link between exposure to PFAS and various adverse human health outcomes. PFAS is a significant issue, estimated to be found in the blood of 97% of Americans. Traditionally used PFAS such as PFOA and PFOS could be removed from water via two primary water treatment options: Activated carbon (AC) and resins. These two PFAS were generally phased out once their hazardous nature was discovered, and they were replaced by shorter PFAS. These shorter PFAS, referred to as short chain (SC) or ultra short chain (USC), are more challenging to remove from water than their longer chained counterparts. This decreases the effectiveness of current treatment methods of AC and resins. Therefore, new approaches are necessary that are more effective. In this study, researchers at AIMM optimize their proprietary, patent-pending innovation, AimmSorb, to maximize the effective PFAS capture range, speed, and length of use. This proposed work enables carbons to be specifically tuned to target PFAS, improving PFAS removal speed and the ability to remove long chain, SC, and USC PFAS. The study also demonstrates the ability of AIMM’s materials to be reused and regenerated, all verified as commercial pain points through AIMM’s customer discovery. Testing is conducted to evaluate the adsorption performance for traditional longer chain, SC, and USC PFAS. Verification of AimmSorb as a reusable sorbent via thermal regeneration is also conducted. Targets for ideal temperature and dwell time are used that are of interest to industry and have been demonstrated to be viable through experience and literature. The core of the AimmSorb innovation is a carbon powder, similar to AC, and therefore compatible with established AC water treatment engineering and processing routes and filter forms already in use. This aids in ease of commercialization and customer familiarity while performing at a much more successful level than current filters. Researchers at AIMM plan to use the successful results of the proposed Phase I work to serve as a foundation for a Phase II effort centered around the eventual fabrication of commercial-ready PFAS treatment systems.