Green Limerick: Breakthrough in water safety

RESEARCHERS at the University of Limerick (UL) have developed a new material that can eliminate harmful chemicals from water.

The researchers, working with colleagues from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in Germany, have discovered a solution to filter harmful chemicals from drinking water.

Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) are a group of man-made chemicals that have been in use since the 1940s.

Due to their ability to resist heat, oil, stains, grease, and water, PFAS have been widely used across a range of industrial and consumer applications, from non-stick cookware and water-repellent fabrics to firefighting foams and industrial processes.

However, their chemical stability also means they persist in the environment and the human body.

Known as ‘forever chemicals’, the substances can accumulate in the body via food and drinking water and cause serious illnesses.

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Prolonged exposure can cause liver damage, tumours and hormonal disorders and they are considered a severe threat to human health.

The researchers at UL and TUM have now developed a new, efficient method of filtering these substances out of drinking water.

They rely on so-called metal-organic framework compounds, which work much better than the materials commonly used to date.

Even extremely low concentrations of PFAS in the water can still be captured.

Dr Soumya Mukherjee, an assistant professor of materials chemistry at UL’s department of chemical sciences, helped develop the porous, sponge-like metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) that can filter these PFAS chemicals out of drinking water.

“This marks the first instance of trace PFAS removal from freshwater, containing two parts per billion of PFAS using porous adsorbent materials that demonstrate both rapid removal kinetics and excellent recyclability,” explained Dr Mukherjee.

The new discovery has just been published in the journal Advanced Materials.

Dr Mukherjee also highlighted the profound societal impact of removing PFAS from water.

“During the Second World War, fluorocarbons became the silent enablers of the 20th century’s greatest technological achievements – the bomb, and also Teflon, the stuff of convenience cookware, spaceflight and implantable medical devices.

“Today, these PFAS persist as legacy chemicals prevalent in water systems serving hundreds of millions of people around the world.

“So extreme is their persistence, that science is yet to determine an environmental half-life.

“From soil to sea, the PFAS cycle spins a web of contamination across ecosystems far and wide.

“To mitigate the disquieting effects of PFAS, we have just innovated a new approach to adsorbent design.”

The team approach was key to this success. He said that “the chemistry among [the] team was just as important as the chemistry of the porous materials”.

According to the researchers, the large-scale translation of the newly identified filter material class in water treatment facilities now requires an iterative process design.

It will be some time before this new filter material is adopted on a global basis.