The project aims to address the challenges of promoting novel adsorbents to scalable column-based applications for uptake and removal of pharmaceuticals, personal care products (ppcps), endocrine…

The Environmental Protection Agency Office of Research and Development awarded a $1.54M Project Grant (CFDA 66.521, Innovative Water Technology Grant Program) to Texas Tech University, effective November 1, 2025, through October 31, 2028, to develop and validate scalable column-based adsorbent technologies for removing micropollutants from wastewater and drinking water sources. The project addresses the technical challenge of translating novel adsorbents—specifically macrocyclic polymers and porous organic frameworks (POFs)—from laboratory-scale particles (1–50 micrometers) into practical, field-deployable forms by encapsulating them in porous alginate beads or coating them on porous silica to achieve 1–3 millimeter sizes. The research targets removal of per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS), pharmaceuticals, personal care products (PPCPs), and endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) from wastewater.

Deliverables include a multi-scale mechanistic and kinetic modeling framework developed through batch experiments, rapid small-scale column tests (RSSCTs), and field-scale validation at the Southern Nevada Water Authority's drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities. Arizona State University (subaward of $384,616, including $250,000 federal funds) provides adsorbent synthesis, characterization, and covalent organic framework (COF) and POF design and optimization across a three-year period. The Southern Nevada Water Authority (subaward awarded June 2026) conducts pilot-scale column testing on actual wastewater sources with elevated PFAS concentrations, collecting and analyzing weekly samples over 2–3 months to validate model predictions and measure removal performance of long-chain PFAS, short-chain PFAS, ultrashort-chain PFAS, and PPCPs.

The project aims to address the challenges of promoting novel adsorbents to scalable column-based applications for uptake and removal of pharmaceuticals, personal care products (ppcps), endocrine disrupting chemicals (edcs), per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS), and other micropollutants from wastewater. The project will focus on two types of novel adsorbents: macrocyclic polymers and porous organic frameworks (pofs).activities:the proposed research will use the two adsorbents to: (1) address the challenge of the unusable sizes of these novel adsorbents (i.e., 1-50 MU; m) for column applications. They will be encapsulated in porous alginate beads or coated on porous silica to reach desirable sizes (i.e., 1-3 MM) without impeding uptake kinetics or selectivity towards target micropollutants; (2) develop a multi-scale modeling framework which will evaluate an adsorption mechanistic model that explores mechanisms and equilibrium states at the microscopic level, and an intra-particle diffusion model that examines adsorption kinetics, through a series of batch experiments; (3) combine outcomes of objectives 1 and 2 into a column mass transport model via a series of rapid small-scale column tests (rsscts); (4) validate resulting models using field column tests conducted at the southern nevada water authority's drinking water and wastewater treatment plants. Subrecipient:subaward for arizona state university - $384,616 (federal funds: $250,000 - cost share: $134,616) subaward for implementation of a 3-year adsorbent synthesis and characterization at ASU (task 2). In task 2, a multi-scale modeling framework will be developed to evaluate the effectiveness of two type of novel adsorbents, macrocyclic polymers and pofs, in removal of target micropollutant groups, PFAS and ppcps, from aqueous phases. The framework will also predict the performance of these adsorbents when synthesized into granules and packed in full-scale, fixed-bed, flow-through units. Subaward for southern nevada water authority (snwa) - $81,250 (federal funds: $65,000 - cost share: $16,250) subaward for implementation of 3RD year field column test at snwa (task 5). In task 5, detailed scaling factor studies will be performed when the adsorption column technologies are installed for a field test in municipal drinking water and wastewater facilities.outcomes:specific outputs from this project will include: (1) a multi-scale framework model developed to evaluate the effectiveness of novel adsorbents to remove target micropollutant from aqueous phases. The outcome of the framework will show the mechanistic interactions between adsorbents and micropollutants. IT will also predict the performance of these adsorbents when synthesized into granules and packed in full-scale, fixed-bed, flow-through units. (2) mechanistic interaction parameter database for modeling from batch experiments that can be expanded in the future studies for model prediction. (3) novel adsorbents as granules applicable for column applications. This will solve the challenge of unusable powder size of most newly invented adsorbents for fix-bed column filtration applications. (4) optimization of the scaling factor that bridges the GAP between rssct and pilot to full-scale column applications using numerical simulation of the hydraulic conditions. The intended beneficiaries are states, tribes local drinking water and wastewater utilities, and the american public by providing new technologies that aim to reduce harmful micropollutants that are currently not being removed from public water supplies.