Download image WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.
– As the controversy surrounding the Environmental Protection Agency and water contamination heats up in Washington, D.C., Purdue University researchers have developed a technology to remove pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics and controlled substances, and chemical contaminants from public water systems.
The concern about water contaminants has been making headlines in the past couple of months as the EPA held a national summit on the issue.
According to Reynaldo Barreto, an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Physics at Purdue University Northwest, organic compounds and pharmaceuticals are commonly being found in public water supplies.
“The effect of these trace contaminants in the water supply is unknown,” said Barreto, who led a team of undergraduate students to develop the new technology.
“Although little is known about the many organic and pharmaceutical compounds, their presence in the water supply, even in trace amounts, poses a real threat to public health.” Barreto and his students developed a series of continuous-flow photoreactors to effectively remove chemical products and compounds, commonly used as solvents and gasoline additives, from water supplies.
The tubing is pressurized and then water flows through and the combination of the light, silicone and glass removes the trace contaminants.
About Purdue Office of Technology Commercialization The Purdue Office of Technology Commercialization operates one of the most comprehensive technology transfer programs among leading research universities in the U.S. Services provided by this office support the economic development initiatives of Purdue University and benefit the university’s academic activities.
The office is managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, which received the 2016 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Award for Innovation from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.
For more information on licensing a Purdue innovation, contact the Office of Technology Commercialization at innovation@prf.org.