Scientists have developed a new catalyst system that can break down per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances more efficiently than previous methods. Login or signup to continue reading PFAS, a so-called "forever chemical", was the primary ingredient in fire fighting foam used at defence bases, including RAAF Base Williamtown, for decades. The Department of Defence has to date spent more than $100 million in recent years remediating PFAS hotspots using traditional technologies to break down the chemical.
The new method of degrading PFAS was developed by Dr Jun Sun and Professor Naresh Kumar from UNSW's School of Chemistry, who worked alongside Professor Denis O'Carroll, Professor Michael Manefield and Dr Matthew Lee from the UNSW School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Dr Sun said there was an ongoing need to come up with an energy-efficient and environmentally friendly way to remove PFAS from water. Since the chemical can take about 1000 years to break down, even if it was removed from water sources, there is still an issue about how to dispose of it.
"You could bury it in the ground, but it'll still end up in your groundwater supply which is where the problem started in the first place," UNSW water expert Professor Stuart Khan said. Previous research has shown nano zero-valent metals and vitamin B12 can be used to degrade PFAS. Professor Kumar and Dr Sun tested their method by mixing the PFAS chemicals with nZVMs and the porphyrin ring (organic chemicals) in a buffer solut.