Image credit; Jenny Downing / CC BY 2.0A research team, led by Northwestern University, has located a renewable material that can inexpensively remove the highly toxic water pollutant PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) from communities’ drinking water supplies.

Due to its associations with Teflon production and other industrial processes and its environmental impact, PFOA contamination is a worldwide problem.

In an effort to combat the problem, researchers have discovered a solution in a material that can eliminate PFOAs to below 10 parts per trillion, well below the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) limits.

“Our material fully extracts the pollutant out of water,” said William Dichtel, an expert in organic and polymer chemistry who led the study. “The polymer contains sites that bind PFOA strongly, which strips this pollutant out of water even when present at extremely low concentrations. The binding sites are joined together by linkers that further enhance the affinity for PFOA.”

Researchers believe that the polymer, which can be reused and regenerated several times, can help rid drinking water of PFOAs and, most likely, other per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFASs), such as perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS).

Currently, the EPA advisory limit for a combined concentration of PFOA and PFOS in drinking water is 70 parts per trillion—or one teaspoon of PFOA in 14 Olympic-sized swimming pools. However, negative health effects have been documented in studies where people were exposed to concentrations lower than the EPA advisory limit.

As a precaution, at least four states—Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Vermont—have limits at least half that of the EPAs.

Recently, concerns over elevated PFOA levels have been making headlines, particularly in communities located near industrial sites, airports and military installations.

In 2016, states of emergency were declared in both Hoosick Falls, New York, and Bennington, Vermont, over elevated PFOA levels discovered in drinking water that exceeded the EPA’s advisory limit.

Researchers believe that only a modest amount of the polymer material is needed to achieve the 10 parts per trillion PFOA level.

“Our findings demonstrate the selectivity of this type of polymer can be tailored to target pollutants of interest, in this case PFOA,” Dichtel said. “The material has more than 10 times higher affinity for PFOA than activated carbon, a conventional treatment method with several known deficiencies.”

The PFOA material and polymer technology are being developed for commercial use by CycloPure, Inc., a company co-founded by Dichtel.