Loading
Other testing has uncovered forever chemicals in drinking water in towns across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Norfolk Island, and in Canberra’s catchments.
The technology developed at UQ begins by mixing a magnetic resin sorbent into sewerage to absorb PFAS material. Magnets are then used to pull it back out.
The resin technology has previously been used to remove PFAS from water, but this is the first time it is being trialled on sewerage.
“Contamination is significant [in sewerage],” Zhang said.
“In a lab at the University of Queensland, we tested how it performs within the biosolids, and we actually achieved more than 99.9 per cent efficiency.
“The big challenge in removing PFAS is it uses a high-energy input to burn it, or something else, but not with [our system].”
Zhang and a group of commercial partners are planning to trial and roll out the program at treatment plants over the next three years.
About 15 people are on the development team, which has been working on PFAS contamination solutions for about a decade.
The technology has been patented by the University of Queensland’s commercialisation arm, UniQuest.
