“ENCINITAS, Calif., March 26, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — CycloPure, Inc., a developer of next-generation water purification adsorbents, announced today that the National Institutes of Health has awarded the company a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I grant in the amount of $149,000. The company will use the funds to accelerate development of its CD-PFAS High-Affinity Cyclodextrin Polymer (HACP) adsorbent that safely removes hazardous perfluorinated (PFAS) compounds in drinking water and waste water treatment applications.
Contamination of drinking water by PFAS compounds such as PFOA and PFOS represent major health threats because of their link to multiple cancers, endocrine system disorders, and thyroid disease. Recent studies estimate that drinking water systems which serve tens of millions of Americans currently contain high concentrations of these contaminants resulting in communities across several states advising residents to avoid using tap water for drinking and cooking purposes.
‘We are pleased to receive this award from the National Institutes of Health,’ said CycloPure co-founder and Chief Science Officer Will Dichtel. ‘It attests to our technology’s promise to deliver important health benefits in water treatment by sequestering heavily fluorinated organic pollutants that often pass through water treatment systems into the public’s drinking water.’
CycloPure’s fluorine-selective CD-PFAS polymer was first profiled in a 2017 study, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, reporting on the polymer’s superior performance in the removal of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) compared to activated carbon which is the most commonly used adsorbent in water treatment applications. ‘CD-PFAS has more than ten-fold higher affinity to PFAS compounds compared to activated carbon, which allows for lower dosing requirements to achieve non-detect or advisory limit removal,’ Dichtel added. ‘Importantly, our CD-PFAS adsorbent is made in a single-step process using cyclodextrin, a readily available sugar molecule derived from sustainable corn starch.’
‘We’ve made a lot of progress with our CD-PFAS polymer in field trials over the past 12 months and have demonstrated its superior performance to activated carbon under various conditions including simulated groundwater, AFFF solution, and contaminated well water,’ said Frank Cassou, CycloPure CEO. ‘The NIH funding will help accelerate our development activities and bring us closer to making our technology commercially available to help communities remove toxic PFAS compounds from their drinking water.’ ”
Read the full press release at prnewswire.com