{"id":230274,"date":"2022-09-13T05:26:32","date_gmt":"2022-09-13T05:26:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trueactivist.com\/?p=230274"},"modified":"2022-09-13T05:26:32","modified_gmt":"2022-09-13T05:26:32","slug":"new-process-discovered-to-destroy-forever-chemicals-found-in-water-t1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trueactivist.com\/new-process-discovered-to-destroy-forever-chemicals-found-in-water-t1\/","title":{"rendered":"New Process Discovered To Destroy Forever Chemicals Found In Water"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_230275\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-230275\" style=\"width: 730px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-230275 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/trueactivist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/chemicals.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"730\" height=\"436\" srcset=\"https:\/\/trueactivist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/chemicals.jpeg 730w, https:\/\/trueactivist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/chemicals-400x239.jpeg 400w, https:\/\/trueactivist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/chemicals-640x382.jpeg 640w, https:\/\/trueactivist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/chemicals-255x152.jpeg 255w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 730px) 100vw, 730px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-230275\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">PBS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since the industrial age, man has made so many discoveries that have helped with making daily chores easier and quicker. However, what many didn\u2019t realize was the fact that these scientists have also come across chemicals that do more harm than good to the environment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The pollutants have been dubbed as \u2018forever chemicals,\u201d and for good reason too. These stay on land until they eventually seep through the soils and affect the many life forms that come across it. This is why people are scrambling right now to find the perfect solution to this problem.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>More About These Chemicals<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PFAS ( or what is otherwise referred to as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) talks about a group of manufactured chemicals that have been used by many since the 1940s. These are called \u2018forever chemicals\u2019 because they can\u2019t be broken down easily, and if nothing will be done to these, it will stay in the environment forever. Bacteria can\u2019t consume these, fire won\u2019t be able to incinerate these, and worse, these also can\u2019t be diluted in water. Others have attempted to bury these toxins underneath the soil only to discover that these only get absorbed by the soil surrounding the area.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, the amazing chemists from Northwestern University have achieved what people once thought was impossible, or at least close to it. They utilized low temperatures and used inexpensive and easily available substances to create a process. The research team behind it was able to develop the method that allows the two major kinds of PFAS compounds to break down until what\u2019s left of it is merely benign end products.<\/p>\n<p><script type='text\/javascript'>\nif (detectWidth() < 768) { \ndocument.write(\"<div style='text-align:center;'><span style='text-align:center; font-size:12px; color:#777;'>Advertisement<\/span><center><!-- TA_MOB_G1_BTF3_300x250 t4\/2+ fb (content) --><div data-aaad='true' data-aa-adunit='\/117607917\/TA_MOB_G1_BTF3_300x250'><\/div><\/center><\/div>\");\n} else { document.write('<div id=\\'wi-194906\\'><\/div>'); jQuery('#wi-194906').closest('.side-widget').hide();\n}\n<\/script><br \/>\n<script type='text\/javascript'>\nif (detectWidth() < 768) {document.write('<div id=\\'wi-193994\\'><\/div>'); jQuery('#wi-193994').closest('.side-widget').hide(); \n} else { \ndocument.write(\"<div style='text-align:center;'><span style='text-align:center; font-size:12px; color:#777;'>Advertisement<\/span><center><!--TA_G1_BTF1_728V in content --><div data-aaad='true' data-aa-adunit='\/117607917\/TA_G1_BTF1_728V'><\/div><\/center><\/div>\");\n}\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is a rather simple technique but this has the ability to become a powerful solution to dispose the toxic chemicals that cause harm and bring about dangerous health effects to those who access the common water supply.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cPFAS has become a major societal problem,\u201d Northwestern\u2019s William Dichtel said. He lead the study and also said, \u201cWe wanted to use chemistry to address this problem and create a solution that the world can use. It\u2019s exciting because of how simple \u2014 yet unrecognized \u2014 our solution is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PFAS have been by manufacturers for 70 years now as nonstick and waterproofing agents. These can be made with nonstick cookware, waterproof cosmetics, firefighting foams, water-repellent fabrics, and several products that repel commonly used items such as grease and oil.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the years that have passed, PFAS have managed to seep through the ground and affect supplies for drinking water. While scientists have yet to fully comprehend and know the health effects, PFAS exposure has been linked to several health issues. In fact, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently made a declaration and said that PFAS count can become very risky even when these are at trace levels.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>PFAS and Their Unbreakable Bonds<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Community efforts have been made so that they can filter PFAS from water supply, and while these have been fairly successful, they have yet to find more solutions in order to responsibly dispose of PFAS once these have been collected. The options that have come out, while few and far between, have basically required its destruction at high temperatures and pressures. There are also a few other solutions requiring big energy inputs.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PFAS has essentially been indestructible. That\u2019s because of the chemical bonds found in it. It contains several carbon-fluorine bonds, which, in organic chemistry, have been known to be the strongest one there is. This is actually one of the many electronegative element written in the periodic table. This means that fluorine desperately looks for electrons to survive. Carbon, on the other hand, is actually more flexible when it comes to needing electrons.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Straight to the Chemical\u2019s Achilles\u2019 Heel<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dichtel and his team studied the compounds thoroughly, and in doing so, they found a weak spot. They discovered that PFAS contains a long tail of firm carbon-fluorine bonds. However, they found that at one end of the molecule, there is a charged group. This group oftentimes has charged oxygen atoms. This was shared by Brittany Trang. She worked in Dichtel\u2019s laboratory as she performed a project for the doctoral thesis. She is also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/science.abm8868\">the paper\u2019s co-first author<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What they did was target the solution in the area via heating the PFAS in a solution that contained dimethyl sulfoxide and sodium hydroxide. These are common household chemicals found in many items such as soap or painkillers. When they did this, they were able to cut off the head group, and as a result, breaking the bond as it leaves behind the others. This proved that they have definitely found the \u201cAchilles\u2019 heel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many have made previous attempts to destroy PFAS. Some groups made use of high temperatures that go as high as 400 degrees Celsius. As for Dichtel and his team, they are looking forward to this new technique because it only requires the use of milder conditions and basic, cheap ingredients. This means that this can become more practical for everyone\u2019s use.<\/p>\n<p><script type='text\/javascript'>\nif (detectWidth() < 768) {document.write('<div id=\\'wi-194140\\'><\/div>'); jQuery('#wi-194140').closest('.side-widget').hide(); \n} else { \ndocument.write(\"<div style='text-align:center;'><center><!-- \/117607917\/TA_G_1x1_outstream t4 --><!-- div data-outstream='inarticle'><\/div --><div data-aaad='true' data-aa-adunit='\/117607917\/TA_G_1x1_outstream'><\/div><\/center><\/div>\");\n}\n<\/script><br \/>\n<script type='text\/javascript'>\nif (detectWidth() < 768) { \ndocument.write(\"<div style='text-align:center;'><center><!-- \/117607917\/TA_G_1x1_outstream t4\/fb 2+ --><!-- div data-outstream='inarticle'><\/div --><div data-aaad='true' data-aa-adunit='\/117607917\/TA_MOB_G_1x1_outstream'><\/div><\/center><\/div>\");\n} else { document.write('<div id=\\'wi-195018\\'><\/div>'); jQuery('#wi-195018').closest('.side-widget').hide();\n}\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After Dichtel and Trang came upon the PFAS degradation conditions, they also saw how the fluorinated pollutants fell apart in a more complex process than what they first thought. This means that they chemicals didn\u2019t break down one carbon at a time. These actually let go of two or three carbons in one go. As soon as researchers can fully comprehend its pathways and methods, they saw that what remained were simply the benign products.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em><strong>\u201cThis proved to be a very complex set of calculations that challenged the most modern quantum mechanical methods and fastest computers available to us,\u201d<\/strong><\/em> said cKen Houk. He is a collaborator and a research professor in organic chemistry at UCLA.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The U.S. has been able to point out than 12,000 different PFAS compounds. This may seem overwhelming at first, but Dichtel is hopeful as he and his team are backed by the National Science Foundation. <em><strong>\u201cOur work addressed one of the largest classes of PFAS, including many we are most concerned about,\u201d<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/news.northwestern.edu\/stories\/2022\/08\/forever-chemicals-destroyed-by-simple-new-method\/\">shared Dichtel<\/a>. <em><strong>\u201cThere are other classes that don\u2019t have the same Achilles\u2019 heel, but each one will have its own weakness. If we can identify it, then we know how to activate it to destroy it.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>What are your thoughts?<\/em> <strong>Please comment below and share this news!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/trueactivist.com\">True Activist<\/a> \/ Report a typo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since the industrial age, man has made so many discoveries that have helped with making daily chores easier and quicker. However, what many didn\u2019t realize was the fact that these&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1819,"featured_media":230275,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[5386,1062,1770,260],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>New Process Discovered To Destroy Forever Chemicals Found In Water - True Activist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The pollutants are dubbed as \u2018forever chemicals,\u201d they used low temperatures &amp; inexpensive &amp; easily available substances to create a process.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/trueactivist.com\/new-process-discovered-to-destroy-forever-chemicals-found-in-water-t1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Process Discovered To Destroy Forever Chemicals Found In Water - 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