Development of Microwave-assisted Membrane Filtration for Pretreatment of PFAS in Industrial Wastewater

EPA launched its drinking water guidelines for PFOA and PFOS in response to rising concerns of these chemicals toward water security. Many conventional wastewater treatment processes are ineffective at removing perfluorochemicals due to their strong resistance to hydrolysis, photolysis, and chemical or microbial degradation. This SBIR project will demonstrate an innovative microwave-assisted membrane filtration (MWM) system and perform a holistic evaluation of removal of PFOA and PFOS. MWM system combines ultrafiltration and MW-Fenton-like reactions. Our prior NSF I-Corp project indicated that the current treatment devices mostly rely on adsorption and advanced oxidation processes, which could not degrade PFASs efficiently. Our 130 customer interviews confirmed that MWM filtration is a novel and highly needed technology for a variety of users such as wastewater treatment plants. Our goals are to demonstrate that (1) MWM will have unparalleled performance of removing PFOA and PFOS; (2) MWM will have high stability to chemical degradation and high resistance to surface fouling compared to regular membrane filtration. This project will deliver new insight into the development of novel and sustainable wastewater treatment technologies for the pretreatment of PFASs.