New Way To Remove 98% Of PFAS “Forever Chemicals” From Water!

“Forever chemicals” such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are becoming quite a nuisance, for example:

• PFAS Exposure & Cancer: The Numbers Are High
• Are You Inhaling Microplastics In Your House?
• The “Forever Chemicals” That Can Triple The Risk Of Liver Disease
• Microplastics Now, Alzheimer’s/Parkinson’s Later?
• We Are Such Stuff As Bottles Are Made Of

With that last one in mind, there are two things of main concern when it comes to PFAS:

1. Conventional water filters do not stop most of them, because of their short molecular chain size
2. Plastic bottles and other plastic water-containing items (jugs, coffee machine parts, etc) can even put more contaminants into the water

So, what to do about it?

A smarter trap

Researchers (Dr. Caroline Andersson et al.) have developed a “molecular cage” that traps PFAS molecules far more effectively than conventional methods.

How it works, in few words: the cage forces PFAS molecules to cluster together inside it, creating a strong binding effect that captures even short-chain PFAS that usually escape filtration.

You may be wondering how small a molecular cage is, and while yes, this is nanotech, the cages are embedded into mesoporous silica, turning a normally inactive material into a powerful PFAS adsorbent (not a typo, the “ad-” prefix here means “to”, and it’s about how it attracts and sticks the PFAS molecules to its surface, while letting water molecules pass by).

Per Dr. Witold Bloch, one of Dr. Andersson’s research colleagues who worked on this with her,

❝While some long-chain PFAS can be partially removed using existing water treatment technologies, the capture of short-chain PFAS—which are more mobile in water—remains a major unresolved challenge.

This research represents an important step toward the development of advanced materials capable of tackling one of the world’s most persistent environmental contaminants.❞

As to how well this groundbreaking advance works, well, there was a clue in the title today, and yes, lab tests showed up to 98% removal of both short- and long-chain PFAS from water, at realistic concentrations, even when re-using the trap time after time after time.

You can read the paper in full, here: Efficient Removal of Short-Chain Perfluoroalkyl Substances by Cavity-Directed Aggregation in a Molecular Cage Host

You may be thinking: “that’s great, but where do I buy a molecular cage?” and current plan is that the technology could be added at the final stage of water treatment to “finish” drinking water before it reaches consumers. However, there is no pressing reason to believe it won’t get added to commercially available water filters at some point, too.

As for what we can do in the meantime, check out:

Water Water Everywhere, But Which Is Best To Drink?

Want to learn more?

Here’s a List of Products with PFAS (& How to Avoid Them)

…and for a much deeper dive into the broader topic of avoiding the toxins the industrial world is keen to throw our way, you might like this book that we reviewed a little while back:

Healthy Living in a Contaminated World – by Dr. Donald Hoernschemeyer

Take care!