Grantee Research Project Results
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Science Advisor, Policy and Engagement
Office of Research and Development
Innovative Water Technology Grant Program
MODELS TO PREDICT THE REMOVAL OF EMERGING MICROPOLLUTANTS FROM WATER BY NOVEL ADSORBENTS IN FIXED-BED COLUMN PROCESSES
This is the initial announcement of this funding opportunity.
CLOSED - For reference purposes only.
Funding Opportunity Number: EPA-G2024-ORD-F1
Assistance Listing Number: 66.521
Solicitation Opening Date: July 30, 2024
Solicitation Closing Date: October 2, 2024: 11:59:59 pm Eastern Time
Water treatment and distribution systems face many challenges in providing safe drinking water. Trace concentrations of some dissolved organic water pollutants (less than 100 micrograms per liter) such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) or per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS) can have adverse effects on human health and aquatic ecosystems, yet these “micropollutants” or “emerging contaminants” (Narwal et al., 2023) are not easily removed by conventional adsorbents such as granular activated carbon (GAC). Conventional sorbents also have a low affinity for many micropollutants, and background constituents such as natural organic matter (NOM) compete for sorption sites and reduce micropollutant sorption efficiency.
The development of new “next-generation” adsorbents (Ateia et al., 2020) show considerable promise for more efficient and effective removal of micropollutants because of their modular design, tunable functionality, and in some cases, tailorable porosity; however, limited information is available on their reliability and treatment performance. For the purposes of this funding opportunity, a “next-generation adsorbent” is defined as a modular adsorbent that has been designed and synthesized to have specific characteristics and functionalities to selectively remove a certain class or classes of contaminants in a fashion that isn’t defined by existing modeling programs. Models are needed to predict and understand the effectiveness of novel sorbents for removing micropollutants from both wastewater and drinking water. The purpose of this funding opportunity is to fund research to develop, test and deploy predictive models for novel adsorbents for removal of emerging micropollutants from water and to estimate how well the adsorbents will work for specific classes of micropollutants in full-scale, fixed-bed, flow-through unit operations. “Fixed-bed, flow-through” unit operations (Patel 2019) means the adsorbent media is installed into a contactor (e.g., column or bed, fixed-bed) and water is passed through the apparatus or unit operation (flow-through) and replaced upon media exhaustion or loss of performance. Although geared toward the application of novel adsorbents, the models developed under this funding opportunity are expected to contribute to the development of innovative water technologies for wastewater and drinking water processing systems, which would be used to develop new and improved drinking water treatment processes.
The 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.