Coagulation and flocculation processes are commonly employed for water and wastewater treatment across the united states but perform poorly in the removal of perand polyfluoroalkyl substances PFAS

This federal Cooperative Agreement award, valued at $483,623.40 and funded by the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation under the Water Desalination Research and Development Program (CFDA 15.506), aims to optimize the removal of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from water and wastewater through enhanced coagulation and flocculation processes. The project, led by the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), will investigate the use of hydrophobic ion-pairing as a pretreatment to improve the capture of both short-chain and long-chain PFAS compounds within the floc during water treatment. The goal is to develop a more effective and environmentally-friendly approach to addressing PFAS contamination in water supplies across the United States. This award supports the Bureau of Reclamation's broader objectives of augmenting usable water supplies and minimizing the environmental impacts of desalination and water treatment technologies.

Polyfluoroalkyl substances removal during coagulation flocculation process can be improved by increasing the hydrophobic interactions of polyfluoroalkyl substances molecules with the flocs. This project proposes to utilize hydrophobic ionpairing HIP as a pretreatment to enhance the removal of both shortchain and longchain polyfluoroalkyl substances during coagulation flocculation process. Hydrophobic ionpairing is a concept by which an ION pair complex is made through the interaction of a hydrophilic ION of interest with a hydrophobic counterion making the overall molecule hydrophobic. In the case of polyfluoroalkyl substances the project proposes to add a cationic hydrophobic ionpairing additive to the contaminated source water to enhance the hydrophobic interaction of polyfluoroalkyl substances with flocs and entrapment of hemimicelles micelles of polyfluoroalkyl substances complex within the flocs. The overall goal of this proposed project is to optimize the type dosage and operating conditions of the enhanced coagulation flocculation system for the removal of polyfluoroalkyl substances mixtures.