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Applied Research

Affiliated Project: North Carolina PFAS University Research Alliance (NC Pure)

The North Carolina PFAS University Research Alliance (NC Pure) aims to evaluate commercial and emerging technologies for PFAS remediation from North Carolina waters at sequentially larger scales, up to pilot scale. NC Pure will deploy pilot-scale PFAS remediation systems to at least three locations throughout NC:

  1. Water treatment plant that provides drinking water from the Cape Fear River
  2. Wastewater treatment plant that discharges into the Cape Fear River (or source water tributary)
  3. Drinking water source in either the Castle Hayne or PeeDee Aquifer

Biotreatment of GenX using combined attached growth anaerobic digester sludge reactors

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Overview

The objective of the research is to develop an effective biotreatment reactor to degrade GenX and swine wastewater. The mechanism of GenX breakdown along with changes to microbial consortium will be investigated as well.

Quantifying the time scale for persistence of GenX and other PFAS in North Carolina drinking water wells

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Overview

PFAS residence time within groundwater as it pertains to impacting drinking water wells will be the focus of this research. The approach will involve a new coupling of PFAS data and chemical tracers that indicate groundwater age for the purpose of forecasting future PFAS concentrations at a diverse set of contaminated drinking water wells. The outcomes of this research will allow stakeholders and residents impacted by contaminated wells, especially in low incomes areas, to make the best decisions for treatment.

PFAS in Jordan Lake sediments: Concentrations, history of accumulation and desorption characteristics

Team Members

Overview

Poly-and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are organic contaminants that have been manufactured for decades, but our understanding of their environmental lability, partitioning and sorption/desorption characteristics is still evolving. This proposed study addresses one of the lesser-known behaviors of PFAS: their association with particulates in the environment and the stability of particle-bound PFAS in sediment deposits of lakes and reservoirs. Recent studies in the Cape Fear River System reveal that PFAS concentrations are high, but little is known about the role of particulates in the transport and transformation of PFAS in the system. We propose to examine two cores in Jordan Lake to better understand the role that particulates and sediments play for PFAS in the system.

Sequestering PFAS in concentrated sources

Team Member

Overview

Currently, PFAS treatment technologies include processes that have high energy footprints and produce PFAS-enriched materials that must be disposed. In this proposal, new, more environmentally-friendly alternatives to PFAS disposal will be explored with the aim to provide stakeholders a means to encapsulate and dispose of these compounds.