Toxic "forever chemicals" called PFAS have long been used in industries around the world, and now they pollute much of our drinking water. Fortunately, researchers are hard at work on ways to remove them — and one team has just found a cheap, scalable answer, Interesting Engineering reported.
The key is small monolith structures 3D printed from ceramic indium oxide ink. Each one is about one and a half inches in size and made up of a lattice structure that creates as much porous surface area as possible.
When the monoliths are left to soak in water, they attract and trap PFAS. They can remove as much as 75% of these chemicals in just three hours, Interesting Engineering revealed.
The problem with PFAS is that it takes them a very long time to break down naturally in the environment — over 1,000 years in some cases. Instead, they build up — in water, soil, and living things. As Interesting Engineering reported, they've been implicated in reproductive problems, developmental disorders, increased heart disease, and increased diabetes risk.
To keep people from swallowing excessive PFAS, we need a water treatment method that can be used on a wide scale.
"PFAS, or 'forever chemicals', are a major focus in water treatment and public health," said research associate Liana Zoumpouli, per Interesting Engineering. "We have created an efficient way to remove these chemicals from water without using lots of energy."
Better yet, the monoliths can be removed from the water and heat treated to prepare them for further use — and when that happens, they only get more effective.
The 3D printing process used to produce them is another big plus.
"Using 3D printing to create the monoliths is relatively simple, and it also means the process should be scalable," said Zoumpouli. "Once the monoliths are ready you simply drop them into the water and let them do their work. It's very exciting and something we are keen to develop further and see in use."
Study co-author Davide Mattia speculated that increasingly strict laws around PFAS in the future would prompt wide adoption of the technology.
"Water companies are likely to be looking at integrating systems to deal with them," Mattia said in a press release.
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