What to do with dirty PFAS filters? UB researchers think plasma treatment can make them reusable

Read the full article by Tom Dinki (University at Buffalo)

“It’s known as granular activated carbon, or GAC. Whether deployed in a water treatment plant or the pitcher in your fridge, this highly adsorbent organic material can easily capture water pollutants.

It can even capture per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), better known as ‘forever chemicals.’

‘The question becomes what to do with that GAC now that it’s covered in forever chemicals,’ says Steven Ray, PhD, associate professor of chemistry at the University at Buffalo and an affiliated faculty member of the UB RENEW Institute. ‘Because if you simply throw it in a landfill, the PFAS are just going to leach and contaminate water again.”