LYNNTECH INC. — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase I: NIEHS

Description

PROJECT SUMMARYThere is an ever growing need for useable uncontaminated water in the United States and across the globeThis increasing need includes many uses with the most significant being for potable waterHowevera significant problem is occurring at the confluence of industry and consumer that continues to put access to clean drinkable water at riskindustriesincluding oilmanufacturingagriculturalaerospaceandampfoodutilize toxic chemicals in their industrial processes which can eventually spill or leak into human water suppliescontaminating the sourceSome of the numerous potentially hazardous chemicals that have been identified in water sources arebutadienepentachlorophenolPCPtrichloroethyleneTCEperfluorooctane sulfonamidePFOSAperfluorooctanesulfonic acidPFOSperfluorooctanoic acidPFOAand many othersConcerns regarding these and other chemicals have led the environmental protection agencyEPAas well as individual statesto put advisory health level limits on sources of drinking waterIn particularthe current lifetime health advisory level for the perand polyfluoroalkyl substancesPFASsPFOS and PFOAispptg Ldue to their persistence in the human body as well as their ubiquitous environmental presenceFurthermorea Harvard study has found that the water supplies formillion people in the United States exceed the recommended safe levels of PFASs including PFOS and PFOAThere is an obvious significance of removing toxic chemicals and decreasing the risk of disease frommillion people s water supplyhoweverthe widespread implementation of a remediation system is often hindered due to a high costto benefit ratio and limited range of effectivenessLynntechIncin collaboration with the Seneca Companieshas designed a system that will overcome the drawbacks of current sorptionand filtration based remediation systems which includeexorbitant filtration sorbent replacement times and costslow selectivity to either PFOS or PFOA or similar potentially hazardous PFASadditional costs associated with the decomposition disposal of concentrated or captured wasteandlow flux andamphigh fouling ratesLynntech plans to overcome these current limitations by proposing a tunable and continuous remediation system that will utilize a scalableefficientand plasma induced contaminate decompositionsorbent regeneration system with an integrated monitoring systemThis complete remediation system is capable of achieving in situ and ex situ groundwater purification from a variety of contaminates with less thanppt of PFOA PFOS in the purified effluent while offering the following advantages over current systemsextension in useable lifetimereduction in lifetime costhigh purification rateability to function without the need for a secondary contaminate disposal stepand adaptability to a large range of contaminates PROJECT NARRATIVE Chemical used within various industries can often migrate to human water suppliesposing unknown andampknown risks and challenges to public healthThe proposed project will result in the development of a cost effective remediation system that can offer continuous removal and disposal of water contaminates for easy in situ or ex situ implementationallowing for rapid deployment in the field where millions of Americans continue to drink water contaminated with harmful chemicals