Abstract:
This presentation is structured in three parts: 1) the occurrence of microplastics and PFAS in municipal water utilities and landfills, 2) a bench scale solution to remove and treat PFAS from drinking water, 3) other mitigation solutions for emerging contaminants developed at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center. The first part will present the results of a 2-year survey on 4 landfill and wastewater treatment systems in Illinois and Wisconsin. This field study included the mass balance analysis for microplastics and PFAS and a novel method for estimation of microplastics concentrations. The second part will present the development of a mechanochemical degradation technique, known as ball milling, for the mineralization of PFAS absorbed in activated carbon. And the third part will present alternative technologies to treat those contaminants including biochar production and conversion of plastics to aviation fuel additives.
Bio:
Andres Prada is an Assistant Research Scientist at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC), which is one of the scientific surveys of the Prairie Research Institute, one of the ten research institutes at UIUC. In his role, Andres conducts research on fate and transport of emerging contaminants (e.g., microplastics or PFAS) in the environment and designs cost-effective solutions to mitigate the effects of these contaminants on the environment and human health. Andres graduated with a PhD in Civil Engineering from UIUC in 2020, and prior to his current position at ISTC, he worked as a postdoc for one year at the Illinois State Water Survey.
