SBIR Phase I: Inorganic Sorbent Media for Removing a Broad Spectrum of Waterborne Contaminants

This SBIR Phase I project will develop a rare earth sorbent media with the ability to remove a broad range of contaminants including heavy metals, organic pollutants, natural organic matter, and microorganisms. The Phase I effort will focus on determining the minimum pore size necessary to allow both removal of metals and microbes, so that the media can be developed for the point of use/point of entry residential market. The broader/commercial impacts of the proposed project will be a water treatment technology that will be capable of removing a suite of contaminants. In addition, the goal is to develop a technology that could be implemented at the point of use/point of entry scale (homeowner's individual well water). While the currently used media is known to successfully remove arsenic, the commercially attractive potential of the media developed in this project will be its ability to remove viruses and microbes in conjunction with organics and inorganics.