Read the full article by Rice University (Phys.org)
“A team of researchers from Rice University, Carnegie Mellon University and other leading global institutions has outlined a bold new roadmap for harnessing heterogeneous catalysis to destroy per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), the so-called ‘forever chemicals’ that have contaminated water supplies worldwide.
In an article published in Nature Water, the international team of environmental engineers, chemists and catalysis experts assessed current catalytic technologies for PFAS destruction, proposed a suite of innovations to overcome existing limitations and emphasized the urgent need for holistic performance metrics that reflect true environmental and public health benefits.
‘Catalysis offers a promising path to completely break down PFAS molecules, but current approaches are still far from optimal,’ said Michael Wong, co-author and chair of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Rice. ‘We need smarter design, better process integration and a more nuanced way of comparing technologies that accounts for energy, cost and toxicity reduction.”