Removing PFAS from Water for Use in Renewable Batteries

Technology developed at the University of Queensland can remove “forever chemicals” — PFAS — from water so they can be used in renewable batteries. Researchers have made a filter which quickly and cleanly captures the PFAs. The filter contains a patented sorbent solution that uses an ion-exchange technique to isolate and remove the PFAS’ particles as the water passes through it. Watch the video to learn more.

“The increasing demand for high-performance rechargeable batteries means manufacturers are constantly searching for new materials that improve the energy density, safety and cycling stability of batteries," said Polymer chemist, Dr Cheng Zhang  . “Recycled PFAS has excellent properties for this purpose.”

Transcript

00:00:00 We are trying to turn waste into wealth  and that's why this project turning   waste PFAS into useful battery  products is really important. My name is Doctor Cheng Zhang,   I'm from the Australian Institute for  Bioengineering and Nanotechnology at UQ. Our lab basically focuses on the innovation of new   polymer sorbents for the removal of PFAS from  contaminated waters and then also how to reuse   and make it a more useful  product in battery applications. PFAS are group man made chemicals that has been   widely used in our daily life  and in industry applications. PFAS contains carbon flourine  bond and it is a very stable  

00:00:46 bond that cannot be broke down in the environment. That means we have to remove PFAS from  the environment to further protect the   human health and the environment health. We're focusing on two solutions. One is development polymer sorbents,   put into a cartridge and filtrating  the water through the cartridge. And then the other setting is magnetic particles. That is we attach a polymer  sorbents into a magnetic particle. Then we can use a simple magnet to separate  the polymer sorbents from the solution if we   get PFAS from the contaminated water  and then we can actually flush or  

00:01:22 release the PFAS into a PFAS concentration  solution and how we can deal with that? So the second part of the project is actually,   we will focus on how to reuse PFAS  from the contaminated water sources. In our projects, we aim to use PFAS  in the battery and then try to improve   the battery performance, for example, the  cycling stability and capacity retention. We already attracted lots of industry of interest   because of removing PFAS - it is  really a hot topic in the community. Aiming for a circular economy is really important. So if successful, the projects  will help us to create a PFAS   free world and then help to protect  the local community and human health.

00:02:09 And at the end, hopefully we can get  better energy storage applications.