This Project Grant award of $350,000 from the National Science Foundation's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) supports a collaborative research project at the University of Missouri System (Missouri S&T) to discover enzymatic pathways that can break carbon-fluorine bonds in perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFAS). PFAS are a group of costly-to-remove chemicals that do not naturally break down in the environment due to their strong carbon-fluorine bonds. The goal of this 3-year project is to...
The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $499,997 Project Grant under the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) to the Regents of the University of Michigan to fund research aimed at advancing the use of persulfate and powdered activated carbon for in situ capture and destruction of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contaminating groundwater. The 3-year project will: 1) evaluate reaction kinetics for PFAS degradation using the persulfate/activated carbon treatment process, 2)...
This Project Grant award for $420,000.00, provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041), will develop a novel photochemical system to degrade per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water. The research aims to (1) investigate the working mechanisms of the new reaction system, (2) examine its performance in degrading various PFAS, (3) characterize PFAS degradation pathways and products, and (4) evaluate and improve the system's performance...
This National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Chemistry federal Project Grant award for $600,000 will support a 3-year research project led by researchers at the University of California, Riverside. The project, titled "Mechanistic Understanding of Biodechlorination-Facilitated Defluorination of Polychlorofluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)," aims to study the molecular mechanisms underlying the dechlorination and defluorination of PFAS, which are a class of "forever...
This National Science Foundation Project Grant of $312,596 awarded on October 1, 2022 will support research at San Diego State University to develop an innovative "trap and destroy" water treatment technology for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The university will work to optimize adsorptive photocatalysts that can selectively absorb PFAS from water and then destroy the compounds using ultraviolet or solar light. Key deliverables under the 24-month award include...
This Project Grant award of $412,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) will be used by the University of Massachusetts (UMass) to investigate the use of engineered polymer microparticles to adsorb and remove per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from wastewater. The central hypothesis is that the adsorption of PFAS molecules will alter the interfacial properties of the microparticles, causing emulsions to destabilize and allowing for the capture...
The National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems awarded a $301,130 project grant to The Research Foundation for the State University of New York (SUNY) to study the molecular and nanoscale structure and interactions of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in aqueous solutions, at interfaces, and with other surfactants. The research aims to develop fundamental knowledge that supports improved water quality and the design of...
This National Science Foundation (NSF) EAGER (Early-Concept Grants for Exploratory Research) project grant, awarded under the NSF Engineering program (CFDA 47.041), focuses on developing new fundamental understanding and early-stage technology for energy- and cost-effective aqueous defluorination of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) using sustainable solar-assisted electrocatalysis. The $299,987 award, effective July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2026, will support research at the University...
This $499,988 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) seeks to develop and validate an integrated sorption-photocatalytic process for the ex-situ treatment and remediation of groundwater contaminated by mixtures of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and chlorinated solvents like trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE). The principal investigator and research team at Southern Illinois University Carbondale will...
This National Science Foundation (NSF) Project Grant award, under the NSF Directorate for Engineering (CFDA 47.041), will provide $212,973 to the University of Utah from July 2023 to June 2026 to conduct collaborative research on the molecular and nanoscale structure and interactions of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as "forever chemicals." The research will investigate PFAS surfactants in aqueous solutions and at water-air, water-oil, and water-solid...