Engineers develop water filtration system that permanently removes 'forever chemicals'
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- Опубліковано 11 вер 2024
- Engineers at the University of British Columbia have developed a filtration system that would permanently remove "forever chemicals" from drinking water. This news comes after a recent study revealed nearly 200 million Americans have been exposed to PFAS in their tap water. Dr. Madjid Mohseni, a professor at British Columbia, shares his research.
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#NBCNews #Filter #Chemicals
The companies that invented and used these forever chemicals should foot the bill to install the purifiers for every public water works.
lol or not have a waterworks. No "forever chemicals" in my water. I collect my own water from the sky. It's not ground water. Doesn't come from the county or Water Dept. Catchment. lol No "forever chemicals" in my water. I collect my own water from the sky. It's not ground water. Doesn't come from the county or Water Dept. Catchment. lol
This stuff will need to be used literally everywhere before long. Wells especially near toxic sources will need filtered.
@@BakuganBrawler211 wow
Those corporations will do what every corporation has ever done, litigate, pay a small fine, and then pay their representatives in government so it will all be paid for by the public.
Yeah, they should. Like DuPont and others!
I hope we can have this everywhere and force these companies responsible to pay.
It’s a nice idea but the government is corrupt and does not care one iota about our health and well-being. I’m pretty sure we still have lead in many municipal water supplies. Govt couldn’t care less.
Hahaha that's funny. The most truly evil people are never held accountable.
pay for what ? it's hysteria
@@ronblack7870 Your moms hysteria
@@ronblack7870 Teflon microplastics in all water sources is hysteria? Do you not believe microplastics exist or that they just aren't a health concern?
This needs to be made available in every country not just America.
As much as I agree with the premise of your thought, people should remember that America isn't a country, it's literally two entire continents.
You know American politicians and corporations don’t want to invest into our health and safety unless it benefits them financially
This particular work is being done in Canada. Why presume United States gets first and exclusive rights?
why? No "forever chemicals" in my water. I collect my own water from the sky. It's not ground water. Doesn't come from the county or Water Dept. Catchment. lol
Pay up
They finally able to break the single strongest bond in organic chemistry, that is a huge breakthrough.
I'm kinda confused about what he said, carbon-chlorine bonds are really common in chemistry. I form them and break them through lots of different elimination or substitution reactions in my organic chemistry lab on a weekly basis. Maybe he meant that they're the hardest to break in the natural environment? I am not sure
@@CoffeeSnep Yeah, I think they just picked a random guy to talk about this. The ring like structure of the molecules make them hard to break down, not the chemical makeup persay. Also, chlorine has nothing to do with it, PFAS compounds have carbon fluorine bonds, literally whete the F comes from.
Many solutions to break them exist, electric current in the presence of some catalysts for example. The issue in an applied sense is none of these methods are viable in a water treatment setting. But if it's possible purify them out of water at scale and concentrate them, then breaking down via one of the known methods is viable.
@@aronm5329pfas are not ring molecules, you’re thinking of aromatics.
@@Cecil_Harvey carbon chlorine / Carbon Fluoride bonds are organic chemistry. It is not easily broken but down it requires energy to do so. Carbon can form rings but I think he's referring to Carbon Alkyn bonds that are considered some of the strongest bonds known
This is really good news. Now, we just have to get it out of our air and food. Maybe we just stop allowing industry to do whatever they want in the name of profit and capitalism, and start making them pay the REAL cost of their products.
Come now.. in capitalism, no lives matter..
@@72marshflower15 well, some do, a little more than others...
@Robert S me three..
Corporations are people they should pay taxes like people
I'll be the Devil's Advocate. Plastics are part of those forever chemical creations. Should we stop producing them because of the "Real Costs"? Imagine if we stopped making plastic medical devices, such as tubing. Think of how many lives would be lost because a saline drip line isn't easily available. Think of all the other applications for that same plastic tubing. I'm right there with you but it's not as simple as just "Real Costs" without discussing "Real Benefits" in the analysis.
Would be nice to see this tech widely deployed sooner rather than later.
You'll need to vote people in who actually work on infrastructure. Your local government likely does the bare minimum due to lack of funding and lack of public interest. Your town has a water plant. Go get a tour and see how its looking there.
Like most academic works, it’s a early proof of concept, and likely no where near commercially deployable.
I live in WI and Lake Michigan is so full of these things that there are warnings that eating one fish caught in there is the equivalent of drinking contaminated water for over a month. This is insane.
We've already developed methods to destroy the chemical bonds that make up PFAS, the problem is that they require extreme amounts of heat (studies vary from 500°C-1,000°C) which in turn creates a massive energy demand. A population of 20,000 people can easily require upwards of 1.5 million gallons of water per day, so you can see why that's not a practical solution yet.
The alternative, which is what I'm pretty sure he has actually talking about, is the treatment method of reverse osmosis filtration, which has existed for decades at this point. It can remove PFAS, but like he said, the media into which it is deposited becomes toxic.
Unless the University of BC has developed a cheap way to heat water to 1,000°C, I think the video title and line of questioning is a bit misleading.
It sounds like they are filtering out the PFAS chemicals, concentrating them so that they can be more easily neutralized. It's unclear if they are using reverse osmosis in the video.
I think there are ways to get around the heat issue. Lots of waste heat exists through many industrial processes.
No "forever chemicals" in my water. I collect my own water from the sky. It's not ground water. Doesn't come from the county or Water Dept. Catchment. lol
@@joeyjoejoe314 Exactly steel production (due to the extreme heat required) could work hand in hand with water purification.
“Our adsorbing media captures up to 99 per cent of PFAS particles and can also be regenerated and potentially reused. This means that when we scrub off the PFAS from these materials, we do not end up with more highly toxic solid waste that will be another major environmental challenge.”
Took me like 5 seconds on google to confirm there media doesnt become toxic
The problem remains tho, the output that created these chemicals will remain. You’d have to be constantly cleaning the water we use to feed our crops as well as the water we use to drink and shower. Since it’s in the soil, every time it rains or circulates with other PFAS water won’t it just become contaminated once again?
Maybe with enough filtration systems all over the world, the chemicals will eventually all be filtered out assuming they all end up in the water and not remain in the soil? Probably we also need to stop manufacturing PFAS items that perpetuate the contamination.
Very long term plans required
Wow. Hope. I'd forgotten what this felt like. More of this please.
C8 is the carbon breakthrough DuPont had when it created Teflon. That's 8 carbon molecules bound together, if you own non-stick cookware made in the US before 2015 it contains C8, get new pans.
Where do you put the old pans though? In to the landfill?
Very evil wicked stuff, Dupont should be prosecuted.
I live in NC where Chemours (aka DuPont) has contaminated the land and water for years. The state is suing them but they keep playing shell games in renaming and splitting off parts of themselves
Protect this man and his research team!
From what?
This is what we need more of on this planet.
Not available to the public. Parts of the country hasn't had clean water for years.
MOVE No "forever chemicals" in my water. I collect my own water from the sky. It's not ground water. Doesn't come from the county or Water Dept. Catchment. lol
ubc is in Canada.
As someone who lives in Flint, Michigan I am intrigued. Maybe while were at it, we can clean up the Flint River that was polluted by General Motors
Not just drinking but we’re also bathing in it. Our bodies are like sponges.
and then they place the filtered water in "plastic bottles" that contain "FOREVER" chemicals...🤣
Good interview. Allowed the scientist time to provide a complete and understandable answer.
Unlike fox News lol
👏👏👏 not all heroes wear capes, some wear a lab coat
I am aware of at least two water treatment plants that have used that type of PFAS removing systems for years due to a local pollution caused by fire fighting repellents in Scandinavia. These are even smaller local plants not critical plants serving many millions of people. It are not that complicated. I remember seeing it on tv some years ago, just tanks filled with tiny pellets that make the PFAS stick to them. The pellets have to be changed every 2 to 4 years and they can be disposed in high temperature incinerators without emitting airborne PFAS emissions. NOT new technology as claimed above. But tried and tested technology that have been in use for a while for those that have the need and willingness to invest in them.
Are you sure? It might be a new and different or possibly more efficient method.
@@karezaalonso7110 Everything are possible but they (title) "develop a system" that already exist should it be so. The tanks with pellets are a "filtration system", so there are not one single information indicating anything new. IF any had invented something new, would they not describe what makes it "new" or "developed"?
@@Mike-zx1kx It's only a guess, but often big discoveries are kept private to help protect their intellectual property.
@@karezaalonso7110 That are why people keep quiet until they have secured a patent if they genuinely have invented something new. If this guy had invented something new he would not speak about before patent secured and if secured he can freely speak about it.
So wholesome to see the market sell you solutions to the problems it has created....🙄
100%
This is great, finally a technology that will have a huge impact on humanity. Love it. Let us hope this spreads and companies are made to cover the costs of all their contamination.
Its important to understand the standards of Americans laws and regulations. How relaxed they are , So many people complain about them in America when others countries are so much better and wouldn't allow this to happen in their water . The waste runoff in America is something like 40% in New Zealand its like 1% or 2% waste runoff.
is that a joke? have you been to india or south asia?
@@danielan962 I'm sure he's only talking about developed nations
@@danielan962 what’s next comparisons to Somalia ?
@@danielan962 are you a joke?
America is a hugely diverse mix of cities and states, New Zealand and other countries are just not. Some cities in USA have good water and some do not. There’s no ‘overall’ statistic you can point to. That’s just fantasyland.
The classic issue in millennial age: I hope this discovery or " break through" doesn't come and go because the problem was never really being unable to remove "forever chemicals", it was something like our financial bureaucracy didn't support or include the necessary pathology to remove the forever chemicals. So unless your answer to the solution somehow falls within the unique guidelines that would check or balance an outdated public treasury accounting system, you will get the run around and wonder why your moment came and went with relatively decent but seemingly not influential notice. Now that its been said, hopefully that will not be the case here.😋
when you don't get rid of those chemicals eventually everyone will early die and you run out of tax generators ending your whole society within a blink. What about that sherlock?
Vote BLUE for YOU
@@MF-ty2znname one area that’s improved under democrat leadership. Voting blue is voting for lying Marxist. Maybe you need to open a history book. Everywhere democrats are leaders peoples lives are destroyed. All they do is blame everyone else.
This is a great start and we need to keep this momentum and keep moving it towards an cleaner and healthier planet. We only have one.
What we need to do is be honest and consider the benefits as well as the hazards of the normal human activity of improving our environment for our purposes, with human flourishing as the only standard of judgment.
ok vegan snowflake lol
this is such good news. i hope this new tech rolls out quickly
2 years later after the patent is hidden by our government:
" Forever chemicals unable to be removed from water"
Paranoid much?
@@Steve-wz5pz How naive could someone be to not understand the current climate we live in to such an extent?
Are you a child?
wdym hidden by your government?
Amazing!! Let’s go! This is actually really a huge worry of mine for the future of the world. I hope we can learn from our mistakes!
This is good news and hopefully goes into effect sooner than later. Until then, keep using Ultra strong home water filtration systems (if you can afford it), also donating blood and plasma greatly reduces forever chemical from out of your body, many studies are proving this, so saving others lives will also save yours.
If you're donating your blood, doesn't that mean you're just passing the PFAS chemicals onto another person?
@@MinhNgo-yf4qm No!.... The extraction process is beyond what I can even go into on this thread!... Zero PFA''S are transmitted, which is why the the wate purification process in this video is so important, because PFA's can and are being removed!...
That's awesome!
Canada once again helping solve the toughest problems we face
Chemical engineering is awesome ✨️
Here, here
innovation will always be better than banning
I lived in a small town that was absolutely ruined by PFAS. It would be amazing to see the town cleaned up.
What town?
@@fazeelur888 A small town in northern Michigan called Oscoda. The USAF base would just let the runoff go everywhere. I can’t help but wonder if that wasn’t a contributing factor to my autoimmune disorder.
@@Felinius get Hijamah done frequently
Thank You for these beautiful souls!
I'd like to see how they are doing this. I have my doubts especially with Teflon type substances. They are extremely stable.
Finally some progress on this issue!
NBC helping the bottle water industry here. I already can see the bottles claiming some non binding statement on their bottles usin PFAS. " LESS PFAS" instead of "NO PFAS". Wonder who told them to run this, meanwhile the mayority of problems is from plastic accumulating in our system and environment.
Our company has done that too, patents obtained. Come interview us anytime.
doesn’t reverse osmosis filtration already do this?
No
WOW. I learned something new today. I have a whole house filtration system plus a Reverse Osmosis unit under the kitchen sink which might remove most of the PFAS, but, did not know about how to properly dispose of them
Reverse osmosis (RO) only allows H2O to pass and would filter all other chemicals. The trick is detoxifying the filtered chemicals which wasn't explained very well but there are many ways to do this including solar UV, plasma, ozonation, etc. which require energy. It sounds as if this professor has an effective solution to deactivate PFAS compounds that is novel.
Yes, it's an electrochemical solution
Now you just need to treat all of it. Better get started.
Well done UBC.
Great job scientists ❤
Didn’t science create these chemicals to begin with ?
You gotta love 60's tech
well british drinking water has been awarded as one of the cleanest drinking waters in the world
They're not carbon-chlorine, they're carbon-fluorine bonds....
Chlorine and Flourine are in the same family (same vertical column on Periodic Table) and so they have a great number of similarities in behavior because of the electrons in the outer shell.
Why is this not a bigger story? If this is true, we need to get this happening! As usual it's the northeastern states that are doing the right thing. What about the rest of us? Make this happen now ! ! !
if this story gets too big people will realise and blame big chemical companies 😂 If I were the management of these companies I will try suppress such news at all cost
@@shadowmistress999 They already are and always have been. Isn't democracy supposed to allow, we, the people to govern ourselves? It isn't working. How do we fix this?
Awesome, apply it now.
Why were such harmful chemicals allowed to contaminate our soil and water in the first place?
Don't governments have well-paid environmental and health agencies that test those things?
Good news there is hope but it's going to have to be large scale. I worry about waste water disposal fracking sites becoming flooded and carrying these type chemicals not only in water but depositing it in the soils and that's a whole other matter. I seen a story about maybe using plants to soak it up which is interesting. Plants that mine rare materials are pretty interesting as well. Need to protect our food as well.
We at Pure Water For All Foundation have been working on this problem for decades in over 50 countries. We have fantastic results.
Science: The cause of, and solution to, all of modern life's problems.
In all seriousness I'm very happy to hear this news, "forever chemicals" are one of a handful of major hurdles facing the near-term health and happiness of our species.
First - where is the article or research paper for this project? Please someone find the link to it, I want to read it!
Next - let’s find a way to get rid of all the microplastics and potential nanoparticle waste.
Trust me, I am a nanoscale engineer from the USA, I have thought about this problem for a long time, and about ways we could probably fix it. And the legislation we have now, whether here in America or elsewhere, will not fully cut it with that problem, either.
If anyone, particularly a scientist or engineer, is willing to pitch in about how we could take care of that problem, I am all ears and would love to connect with you. :)
You're correct, I just checked the description and saw no cited sources for this video. Ridiculous... If this video was a homework assignment they'd (NBC) wouldn't get a perfect grade.
They mentioned his name was Doctor Mossini, around 3:49 or so
Finally found another article about this subject, ""Dr. Madjid Mohseni, a professor at British Columbia, shares his research"" Source: NBC website,April 26, 2023. Article titled,
`Engineers develop water filtration system that permanently removes 'forever chemicals' `
Great news, I just hope it actually comes out and is put in use for the public because we all have heard of great breakthroughs that don't go anywhere because of corruption and idiocy in politics.
Good job British Columbia. Wish America would spend more money on health sciences instead of corporate subsidies and warfare
Lack of Iodine - as example - has led to thyroid problems in some mountain areas. We need some chemicals in water, we are not robots.
Minerals are needed elements in bioavailable form. But actually you get so much from food that your body waste a good amount. I've never eaten a vegetable but the my blood vitamin levels are normal.
The title is misleading, the process doesnt remove them permanently, but it does clear whatever is in the water sample at the time. ie the water does not get a magical immunity to prevent it from getting those chemicals in it again...but this is cool that they can even take the chemicals out of a water sampleand generate clean water for a water sample.
This is where money should be invested.
Some ppl need to be in prison for pfas
I laugh every time somebody says: "I'm proud of my tap water!".
Mmm, lead and chlorination, my favorite.
Mmm nestle and microplastics
Now what do we do about the chemicals in our body
I did not hear any breakthrough. Removal of PFAS has been possible with adsorption for many decades. Actually deploying the technologies to provide treatment is what’s new.
Science is what makes man powerful.
Great Video!
Get this guy to WV!
can they remove h2o from water as well?
Hint: Water Distiller removes everything. Get your vitamins & minerals from foods & supplements 👊
Good news Flint, MI!
Send that system to Flint ASAP.
The process is not specified but
reverse osmosis can retain PFAS and pesticides like many other molecules.
Now to privatize and capitalize off it, as the Americans say! "Get yer clean water here, clean water for only $40/month with a 3-year contract." etc. etc....
Very nice now make a water bottles that automatically filters sea water & turns it into drinking water
Is this deuterium removal?
No. Deuterium is a isotope of hydrogen and occurs even less frequently in nature - hence the need for centrifuges to isolate the heavier water from the normal water.
@@TheRealInscrutable Thanks for the info.
BTW: A few years ago it was found that rainwater worldwide* was found unfit to drink. We need to do much better.
Cool now filter the forever chemicals out my blood.
So will this redefine "Forever Chemicals" to just Chemicals? The way they redefine words to suit them anymore like "Recession". has me confused about definitions anymore...
Someone is going to buy the patent for this and we will all be held hostage for fresh water. Great news i guess
pfas is a real issue, we all have it inside, cancerogenic and especially becoming a family is getting harder and harder because of this.
Good, now make Dupont and the rest of pfas manufacturers pay for the global cleanup.
I'm sorry to say this but those engineers are good as dead because you know big corporations (especially the CEO of Nestle) will not be having it, at all.
Yay! Now we can skip the whole "hold them accountable" step. Corporations have feelings too.
Science creates problems.
Science creates solutions.
Your title is distorting what the engineer confirmed in your interview. There are more than 4000 types of PFAS and he told you in the interview that the technology ONLY filters a few of those variants.
I see we're just skipping right over the medication's that they typically do not filter out of the water, like female hormone replacements .... Just skipped right over that part. Some of that water gets dumped right into our rivers.
The cool thing about BPA is it can't be distilled out of water because it's azeotropic to water. Activated carbon works though.
Sounds like a echo chamber in here.
Flint Michigan and East Palestine should have first dips on this. Since apparently it takes two decades to fix you think something simple as “reliable infrastructure.”
Thank goodness, godbless them,
Let's get this out there.
Water filtration and fusion all in the same year wow
It sounds like generating ultra pure water in a low cost way which is mostly used in semiconducter industry.
New ground breaking multi-billion dollar industry can be made from this subject/discovery alone.
Crazy how they couldn't do that for Flint.
This also explains why the cost of stamps still goes up.
Why didn't you ask him about removing oil from water or lead....
People should know the truth!
Now make Dow and Dupont pay for the clean up
Make them supply the whole of America with free filters!!!
Yay!!! What a breakthrough. Now to figure out how to scale it up and make it accessable for all.
Hopefully this is an affordable solution available TO ALL...Also once removed is there a proper way to dispose them?
Oh, sure. It works in a LAB. The process requires great amounts of heat which would use a lot of energy. On an industrial scale, which would be needed to filter enough water to serve a community, that energy cost would be tremendous. Like most lab discoveries, this process can not provide results needed to make it viable at all.
Who in the world can and should still trust their tap water?