KCS faculty Are Racing to Remove Harmful 鈥楩orever Chemicals鈥 from our Water, Soil and Bodies
Organic Chemistry Associate Professor James Reuther is developing a reusable filter to remove PFAS from drinking water.
04/01/2025
By Ed Brennen
How much PFAS do you have in your bloodstream right now? If you鈥檙e like 97% of Americans, you have some level of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in your system, according to a 2022 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Also known as 鈥渇orever chemicals鈥 because they never fully break down in the environment, PFAS are a classification of nearly 15,000 man-made compounds that have been used in everyday products鈥攆rom cookware and clothing to paint and popcorn bags鈥攕ince the 1940s. Over time, they accumulate in water, soil and even human bodies, contributing to health problems such as cancer, immune system suppression and hormone disruption.
With public awareness on the rise, the federal government last year introduced the first-ever national drinking water standards for PFAS, limiting the levels of two of the most common compounds鈥擯FOA and PFOS鈥攁t 4 parts per trillion. In Massachusetts, Gov. Maura Healey signed a law banning PFAS in firefighting equipment by 2027.
Faculty researchers in the Kennedy College of Sciences are stepping up to address this relentless environmental and public health challenge. Four members of the Chemistry Department听鈥斅James Reuther, Kwok-Fan Chow, Pengyuan Liu and Michael Ross聽鈥 are conducting innovative research to detect, remove and destroy the ubiquitous substances.
鈥淧FAS is one of the biggest environmental concerns of our time,鈥 says Reuther, an associate professor of organic chemistry. 鈥淲e need new ways to get rid of the pervasive chemicals in a very efficient manner.鈥
How are they doing it? Here鈥檚 a look.
Filter of the Future
The Environmental Protection Agency is scheduled to begin enforcing the new federal PFAS water standards in 2029, so the race is on to develop efficient and cost-effective filtration systems for municipalities across the country.
Reuther, along with Ph.D. students Dylan Shuster and Shayesteh Tafazoli, is developing a sustainable system that holds commercial promise. By linking together polymers, they have created a gel that can trap PFAS and other pollutants, such as microplastics, in naturally formed voids. The system uses a process called 鈥渋on exchange adsorption鈥 to bind the negatively charged PFAS molecules to positively charged surfaces in the gel.
Unlike activated carbon filters, which act as 鈥渃atch-all鈥 systems and deplete quickly, Reuther鈥檚 materials can be 鈥渢uned鈥 to target specific contaminants. And unlike carbon filters, which must be thrown out once they鈥檙e filled with pollutants, Reuther鈥檚 system is reusable. By shining ultraviolet light on the gel, the adsorbents release the PFAS molecules and can go back to work. The concentrated PFAS waste stream, meanwhile, can be degraded through a separate process.
鈥淥ne of the key innovations is introducing sustainability into these devices,鈥 Reuther says. 鈥淲hen you combine this sustainable adsorbent with a degradation procedure, you have a truly circular system.鈥
The project began several years ago when Reuther was having beers with Onur Apul, a former environmental engineering faculty member at UML who is now at the University of Maine.
鈥淲e were talking about science, writing some notes on napkins and came up with an idea,鈥 says Reuther, who has a provisional patent on the technology and has received grants totaling $85,000 from the U.S. Geological Survey and the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center to support his work.
Reuther鈥檚 goal in the next year is to develop a prototype for a cartridge-based filter for household use, similar to a Brita filter. He is pursuing funding from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center鈥檚 Catalyst Program to help develop the prototype. He has also applied for a U.S. Army Small Business Innovation Research grant to explore how the filtration system could be used by soldiers on the battlefield.
PFAS are such unique molecules. They鈥檙e so hard for the degradation challenge environmentally, and they鈥檙e alsoo really consumer facing. -Michael RossAs for use at the municipal level, Reuther says scalability of the technology is a critical next step.
鈥淭he key is properly scaling the material synthesis and producing as much adsorbent material as you can, because you鈥檙e going to need a lot,鈥 says Reuther, who notes that there鈥檚 great demand for filtration in New England, which has some of the highest levels of PFAS water contamination in the country.
With over 2 billion people worldwide lacking consistent access to clean drinking water, Reuther says it鈥檚 rewarding to work with students on viable solutions.
鈥淗aving a lab centered around this kind of research brings out the passion in students,鈥 he says. 鈥淭he accumulation of waste and the distribution of resources are important issues for the younger generation, so they gravitate toward this research.鈥
Shock to the System
When it comes to degrading the concentrated PFAS waste streams from filtration systems such as Reuther鈥檚, incineration is the most common method currently used. However, burning the chemicals is an energy-intensive method that can release toxic pollutants into the air.
鈥淵ou apply electricity in a solvent and basically shock it,鈥 Chow says.
While there are already electrolysis methods in use, Chow notes that they require expensive electrodes, such as boron-doped diamonds or titanium dioxide.
鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to find more affordable electrical materials for this process,鈥 says Chow, whose work is backed by a $16,350 MassVentures Acorn Innovation Award and a $15,000 internal seed award from UML鈥檚 Office of Research and Innovation.
The students get hands-on experience with instruments like the liquid chromatography-mass spectrometer, which gets them ready for the workforce. -Kwok-Fan ChowWorking specifically with PFOA, Chow鈥檚 team found that the compound can be degraded by using a 鈥済reen鈥 solvent 鈥 a substance that is environmentally friendly and minimizes harmful effects 鈥攁t room temperature.
By avoiding the need for high temperatures or expensive materials, their method makes PFAS destruction more energy-efficient and accessible for municipalities and industries, Chow says.
The research team includes chemistry Ph.D. students Maduka Praveen and Ishara Abeywickrama, environmental engineering Ph.D. student Lingfei Fan, undergraduate chemistry major Kien Kuzlotsky and Amy Sun, a local high school student.
鈥淭he students get hands-on experience with instruments like the liquid chromatography-mass spectrometer, which gets them ready for the workforce,鈥 says Chow, who began working on the project 鈥渁lmost by accident鈥 after a discussion with Yan about electrochemistry.
鈥淵ou see the water reports from your town, and you know it鈥檚 an important environmental problem,鈥 he says. 鈥淲e have the experience to help solve the problem, so why not?鈥
Fighting Fire with Technology
As if running into a burning building wasn鈥檛 dangerous enough, firefighters are also exposed to an alarming amount of PFAS. The compounds have long been used in firefighting foam and in the coating of their protective gear, so it should come as no surprise that firefighters have higher levels of PFAS in their blood than the general population.
Liu, an assistant professor of analytical chemistry, is on a mission to quantify these exposures and assess their potential health impacts. Part of an interdisciplinary research team that received a $900,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Liu is using mass spectrometry to characterize and quantify PFAS in firefighting foam and gear.
鈥淢ass spectrometry allows us to separate individual compounds in complex systems, identify their structures and measure their concentrations鈥攅ven at very low levels,鈥 Liu explains.
While most PFAS detection technology targets common compounds found in high concentrations, such as PFOA, Liu says mass spectrometry is sensitive enough to identify smaller amounts of uncommon compounds. This capability is critical, as new regulations, such as the one signed by Gov. Healey, force manufacturers to replace traditional PFAS with alternative chemicals, sometimes without full disclosure of their compositions.
As part of the project led by Anila Bello, a research professor in the Department of Public Health, and Dhimiter Bello, associate dean for research and graduate studies in the Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences, Liu is analyzing samples of aqueous film-forming foam, which contains PFAS, and PFAS-free foam alternatives.
To simulate firefighting conditions, Liu subjects the samples to high temperatures and analyzes the resulting chemical byproducts. Early findings have revealed approximately 20 distinct PFAS compounds per sample, many of which are uncommon or not well understood.
For Liu, PFAS research is a natural extension of his expertise in metabolomics, which examines how small molecules in the human body impact health.
鈥淔irefighters are exposed to PFAS far longer than the average person,鈥 he says.
鈥淲e want to study how these chemicals accumulate in their bodies and how they鈥檙e going to affect their health.鈥
Rapid Detection on the Frontlines
Ross, an assistant professor, is also part of the FEMA firefighting grant. He is developing an inexpensive portable device that firefighters can use to quickly screen for PFAS in the field. The device could also be used by other professions to detect PFAS in water or soil.
At the core of their work are gold plasmonic nanoparticles, materials that enhance Raman spectroscopy鈥攁 technique that reveals molecular 鈥渇ingerprints鈥 based on how molecules scatter light. After adding a sample of firefighting foam to a solution with the nanoparticles and letting it sit for a few minutes, the firefighter would then point a laser from a handheld Raman spectrometer on the sample and get a readout based on what lattice light scatters back.
鈥淭he dream would be to use machine learning computational methods to read the data and give a nonexpert a direct yes or no鈥攁 green light/red light,鈥 Ross says.
The research has already yielded promising results. In early tests, the team correctly identified PFAS in 35 out of 36 samples.
Their work is supported by a $15,000 Acorn Innovation grant. Ross and Wang also participated in the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps program, which helped them explore commercial applications.