I-Corps: Translation potential of continuous-flow System for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance remediation and degradation

The broader impact of this I-Corps project is the development of a novel, 2-in-1 technology that can absorb and destroy "forever chemicals". Current solutions on the market are expensive, energy and time intensive, hard to implement, and leave behind forever chemical-contaminated waste products, which results in risks of litigation and difficulties in complying with existing and upcoming regulations. The estimated market size for industries that use forever chemicals is over $4 billion, with potential for the market to grow to $6.5 billion by 2030. Since 2012, 6,000+ cases have been filed, with over $6 billion in liabilities for remediation. This technology helps address this problem providing an easy-to-implement system that requires less energy than all competing destruction technologies, helping manufacturers to stop polluting the communities they serve. This I-Corps project utilizes experiential learning coupled with a first-hand investigation of the industry ecosystem to assess the translation potential of the technology. This solution is based on the development of a water treatment system that can continuously degrade forever chemicals with Ultraviolet light at room temperature in a single, continuous stream. The reactor contains organic-based adsorbent photocatalysts. These materials make excellent adsorbents due to their hierarchical porous structure that gives them extremely high surface areas. There has been no feasible method of mass producing these photocatalysts until now. This novel technology allows for the absorption of forever chemicals at room temperature for on-site degradation with minimal energy cost and no need for treatment of contaminated absorbent. This solution presents an advantage as most current technologies must destroy forever chemicals in a secondary step where the absorbent must be removed and disposed. 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.