UNC Charlotte Professor Bring PFAS Filter to Public

t Dr. Jordan Poler’s PFAS removal consists of a resin jar reactor filled with natural zeolite that, when combined with other materials, removes PFAS from water.

Poler Research Group

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Professor Jordan Poler at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) has been working for eight years to develop new technology to help strip PFAS or forever chemicals and other contaminants from drinking water. PFAS have been linked to health problems – including an increased risk for cancer and can be found in non-stick cookware that contains Teflon, firefighting foam and some makeup.

“They bioaccumulate in your body until they reach a toxic level,” said Poler. “Then you have health concerns including cancer, fetal early childbirth and things like that.”

Poler’s technology could help make those “forever chemicals” disappear. Last year, the chemistry professor received one of eight inaugural grants from the NC Innovation Grant Project. The grant will help Poler scale up his research to partner with a manufacturer that could sell it to the public.

His research involves a process called ion exchange, which works by trading an atom or group of atoms (ions) with ones that do not degrade the quality of drinking water. The chemistry developed in Poler’s lab is all water-based. Poler showed how his technology filters those harmful chemicals out by pouring colored water to represent the PFAS into a tube with the zeolite. After gently shaking for 30 seconds the color/chemicals disappeared.

“As the water’s going through, the molecules are seeing these brushes and they just grab onto them, the brushes grab onto the molecules right away,” he explained in interviews.

Traditional filters like those in refrigerators or under the sink remove PFAS, but Poler says the chemicals are not really gone. “What you’ve done is you’ve concentrated all the impurities onto that filter and then you put it into the landfill and all those impurities leach back out.”

Poler’s research shows his method not only removes the PFAS but it can also be regenerated.

Poler hopes with the grant investment they will be able to sell the filter materials to the public within a year. Since the materials can be regenerated, customers would be able to send in their filter to be cleaned and then replaced without causing any harm to the environment. pages.charlotte.edu/poler-research/research

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