Environmental Issue – April 2022: PFAS water filter developed by way of NIEHS funding

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A brand new filter cartridge that’s suitable with Brita pitchers can take away per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from consuming water. The Purefast cartridges from CycloPure, Inc., are primarily based on DEXSORB+(https://www.niehs.nih.gov/analysis/supported/facilities/srp/science_digest/2019/6/expertise/index.cfm) expertise, which was developed with assist from an NIEHS Superfund Analysis Program (SRP) small enterprise innovation analysis grant(https://instruments.niehs.nih.gov/srp/packages/Program_detail.cfm?Project_ID=R44ES029401).

“These $45 filters can present as much as 65 gallons of PFAS-free water, changing 700 single-use water bottles,” mentioned CycloPure chief govt officer Frank Cassou. The cartridges shall be out there in early April 2022.

“We hope this shall be an reasonably priced possibility for folks involved about PFAS publicity primarily based on the place they stay or work,” he famous.

Woman fills pitcher for filtering water
“Brita pitchers are accessible to an enormous demographic and don’t require an skilled, like a plumber, for set up,” famous Cassou. “This enables us to simply present protected and reasonably priced consuming water.” (Picture courtesy of CycloPure)

“The aim of the SRP small enterprise grant program is to create instruments that can enhance folks’s well being,” mentioned SRP Well being Scientist Administrator Heather Henry, Ph.D., who leads this system. “CycloPure is doing simply that. It’s a exceptional achievement that solely 4 years after their grant began, they’ve launched a product that may assist communities cut back their publicity to PFAS.”

Environment friendly expertise

DEXSORB+ makes use of renewable cup-shaped cyclodextrins, derived from corn starch, to bind and take away all 40 PFAS focused within the U.S. Environmental Safety Company (EPA) PFAS Roadmap.

“Our cyclodextrins are very small, 0.78 nanometers to be actual, and in a single gram of DEXSORB+, there are over 300 quintillion cyclodextrin cups,” Cassou defined. “This enables our expertise to quickly bind quite a lot of PFAS compounds quicker and extra effectively than different filtration supplies, like activated carbon.”

On March 17, the Nationwide Sanitation Basis (NSF) Worldwide licensed this filter as environment friendly and protected for consuming water therapy and permitted its use for business functions.

“The event of Purefast was a two-year course of,” mentioned Cassou. “We put Purefast by way of rigorous testing underneath completely different situations to make sure efficiency was inside NSF’s PFAS restrict of 70 elements per trillion. In lab, we confirmed zero PFAS detection for 65 gallons of water filtration.”

Illustrated example of how DEXSORB+ uses renewable cup-shaped cyclodextrins, derived from corn starch, to bind and remove all 40 PFAS targeted in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) CycloPure describes their expertise as “science by nature” as a result of cyclodextrins are constructed from corn and are completely suited to seize and take away small molecule contaminants. (Picture courtesy of CycloPure)

Prioritizing sustainability, wholesome communities

“Sustainability is one among our high priorities,” mentioned Cassou. “We’re working onerous to verify all supplies are correctly and safely disposed or reused.”

Every Purefast cartridge comes with a bundle and pay as you go label to return the filter to Cyclopure’s lab, the place the contaminants shall be transformed into salts and safely disposed with out harming the atmosphere.

At Cyclopure’s lab, DEXSORB+ may also be regenerated, permitting the workforce to re-use their expertise for quite a lot of water filtration functions.

Their workforce of consultants works intently with communities throughout the U.S. with excessive ranges of PFAS contamination, commonly testing their consuming water provides and speaking outcomes. Certainly one of their partnering communities in Massachusetts just lately bought 3,000 models to offer protected consuming water to all households of their city.

(Mali Velasco is a analysis and communication specialist for MDB Inc., a contractor for the NIEHS Superfund Analysis Program.)


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