Grantee Research Project Results
Nanoplastics Removal by Metal Organic Frameworks
EPA Grant Number: SU841135Title: Nanoplastics Removal by Metal Organic Frameworks
Investigators: Esfahani, Milad R , Akyol, Nihat Hakan
Institution: The University of Alabama
EPA Project Officer: Brooks, Donald
Phase: I
Project Period: March 1, 2025 through February 28, 2027
Project Amount: $74,995
RFA: 21st Annual P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition Focusing on People, Prosperity, and the Planet Phase I (2024) RFA Text
Research Category: Groundwater, Contaminant Fate and Transport , Groundwater, Metals, Treatment, Biotransformation , Groundwater, Contaminants, Treatment , Drinking Water , Clean Water , Groundwater, Organic Contaminants, Treatment, Modeling , Water Quality , Human Health , Water , Land and Waste Management , P3 Awards , P3 Challenge Area - Safe and Sustainable Water Resources , P3 Challenge Area - Sustainable and Healthy Communities , P3 Challenge Area - Chemical Safety , Environment , Water Treatment , Aquatic Toxicology
Description:
This proposed project aims to address societal, economic, and environmental challenges through research endeavors and community engagement. The removal of emerging industrial and commercial contaminants from water, including nanoplastics, is a pressing concern worldwide. However, existing separation processes often fall short in ii efficiently removing various nanoplastics, which pose significant threats to both people and the planet due to their high toxicity and carcinogenic properties. From a practical viewpoint, environmental regulations for point source pollutants are very restrictive; therefore, an efficient and cost-effective removal technology that complies with regulations can not only reduce expenses but also promote prosperity. Adsorption-based separation processes have shown significant performance by providing a reliable, flexible, and environmentally friendly approach for removing contaminants from water. However, conventional adsorbents like activated carbon face limitations, including: i) insufficient selectivity for target adsorbates amidst competitive ones, ii) reduced efficiency in lowconcentration adsorbate removal, and iii) limited re-usability. Hence, there is a pressing need to develop a new generation of adsorbents, such as MOFs, with engineered tunability to enhance selective nanoplastic adsorption and promote re-usability without sacrificing removal efficiency. We believe that the proposed functionalized Ag-MOF and Cr-MOF will address the current limitations of traditional adsorbents by selectively removing various nanoplastics (PS, PE, PVC) differing in size, morphology, and surface charge from water, with MOFs exhibiting over 95% re-usability. In this project, our team will systematically synthesize and functionalize Ag-MOF and Cr-MOF, followed by performance testing for PS, PE, and PVC nanoplastics removal. Then, we will investigate the adsorption mechanisms and kinetics of the mentioned nanoplastics under diverse
operational conditions (pH, temperature, and ionic strength). Additionally, we will examine the performance of the MOFs by treating a real-water sample contaminated with nanoplastics to assess the real-world application of the MOFs. Finally, our students will disseminate results at regional and national conferences to raise awareness of nanoplastic pollution and potential remediation strategies for these emerging and widespread contaminants. This project will offer valuable educational opportunities to participating students, igniting their interest in innovative water and wastewater treatment remediation
technologies. The synthesis and evaluation of MOFs will necessitate cross-disciplinary expertise spanning from chemistry to engineering. Both graduate and undergraduate students will engage in collaborative teamwork and laboratory training to develop tangible adsorbents for water treatment applications. These synthesized adsorbents, housed within a column setup, will serve as an educational platform, demonstrating filtration and adsorption concepts to students at the University of Alabama (UA) and K-12 students in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Objective:
Tailored design of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with specific surface area, surface chemistry, and pore size will enable selective adsorption of various
nanoplastics at low concentrations from water, even in the presence of other competitive adsorbates. The hypothesis will be examined through three objectives: Objective 1: Synthesize and characterize engineered Cr-MOF and Ag-MOF variants with diverse organic ligands tailored to specific surface areas, surface charges, and pore sizes. Objective 2: Assess the selective adsorption performance of MOFs towards polyethylene (PE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polystyrene (PS) nanoplastics Objective 3: Evaluate the selective adsorption capacity of MOFs in the presence of competitive adsorbates using real-water samples contaminated with nanoplastics.
Supplemental Keywords:
Nanoplastics, Metal organic frameworks, surface functionalization, adsorption, water treatmentThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.