Multifunctional Membranes Towards PFAS Remediation

Webinar Summary

Halogenated organic compounds, such as PFAS, PCB,TCE, etc. continue to pose both remediation/detoxification challenges and human health risks from water and other industrial sources. Current technologies used in water and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are incapable of removing and/or destroying PFAS, resulting in the disposal of PFAS-laden wastes in landfills, gravely impacting groundwater and thus contaminating the drinking water system. Although membrane processes such as, Reverse Osmosis (RO), Nanofiltration (NF), Ultrafiltration, and Microfiltration (MF) have provided many successful applications ranging from high quality water production to material recovery, but incorporation of nanostructured aspects with tunable properties  in membrane pores has added immense value in the area of difficult environmental separations. In addition, we will demonstrate that having amine functionalized or temperature responsive polymer in membrane pore nano-domain one can have temperature and pH swing adsorption-desorption (PFAS, PCB for examples), and create concentrated solution for subsequent degradation. The presentation will include: (a) short overview beyond normal RO/NF/UF, (b) surface and pore functionalization approaches towards toxic materials capture, (c) creation of amine (charge interactions) and temperature responsive domain (hydrophobic/hydrophilic transitions with pNIPAM) for PFAS separations, (d) PFAS separation with combined NF membrane layer on functionalized MF. This research has been supported by NIH-NIEHS-SRP, NSF, and Southern Company.

Speaker Profile

Prof. Dibakar Bhattacharyya (DB) is the University of Kentucky Alumni Chair Professor of Chemical Engineering, Director of the UK Center of Membrane Sciences, and a Fellow of AIChE and North American Membrane Society. In 2023, he was the recipient of the North American Membrane Society Alan S. Michaels Award for Innovation in Membrane Science and Technology, and in 2024 he was also elected as a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). He received his Ph.D. from the Illinois Institute of Technology, M.S. from Northwestern University, and B.S. from Jadavpur University. DB has also spent several months (in person) in a membrane company dealing with synthesis and production scale manufacturing of advanced nanofiltration and functionalized membranes with nano-catalyst domain. In addition, DB and his group have done extensive work on halo-organic (PFAS, etc,) remediation and nanotechnology integrated membrane filtration and sustainable water detoxification technology development. He has published over 250 refereed journal articles, books, and book chapters. He and his students have several US patents in membrane filtration and environmental area. Dr. Bhattacharyya has received a number of awards for his research and educational accomplishments, including the 2021 SEC Faculty Achievement Award, 2020 AICHE (Sep div) Founders Award, 2018 Sturgill Award for graduate research and education, 2009 Gerhold award on Separations technology from AICHE, 2004 Kirwan Prize for Outstanding Research, 1989 Larry K. Cecil AIChE Environmental Division Award on water treatment technology developments, etc.  

Webinar Format

This webinar will include a moderated Q and A session following the speaker’s presentation. The session is open to environmental engineering and science professionals across all sectors and career stages. Our objective is to offer special insights on leading edge solutions for graduate and undergraduate students as well as early to mid-career environmental professionals who are considering specialty certification.

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