WRI Seminar Series: Dr Jens Blotevogel – PFAS Characterization and Treatment: A Global Grand Challenge

Dr Jens Blotevogel, CSIRO, Adelaide

Title: PFAS Characterization and Treatment: A Global Grand Challenge

Abstract: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been ubiquitously detected in the environment from North to South Pole. Designed for commercial and consumer product durability, the strong carbon-fluorine bond in PFAS translates into extraordinary environmental persistence. Comprehensive characterization of this class of >10,000 individual species is critical for robust assessment of their environmental transport, transformation, remediation, exposure, and uptake. The first part of this seminar will discuss our efforts in expanding complex PFAS characterization using the world’s highest mass-resolving 21T Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer (FT-ICR MS) and its role in our recent discovery of many new PFAS classes. The second part of this seminar will present solutions to the PFAS problem via destructive remediation and water treatment technologies. We show that nanofiltration pre-treatment can remove 99% of PFAS from impacted water. Subsequently, PFAS concentrated in the reject waste stream can be fully mineralized by electrochemical oxidation or incineration as supported by both physical and theoretical lines of evidence. These efficient treatment trains decrease energy consumption, material usage, and costs by more than one order of magnitude, offering a sustainable path toward destructive PFAS removal from the environment.

BIOSKETCH: Jens Blotevogel is a Principal Research Scientist and Team Leader for Remediation Technologies with the CSIRO on Waite Campus in Adelaide. His research revolves around the fate of emerging contaminants, conducting laboratory- and field-scale experiments to elucidate their transformation in both natural and engineered systems. Jens has developed sustainable water treatment technologies, theoretical models for contaminant degradation prediction, and various advanced analytical methods with a focus on high-resolution accurate mass spectrometry. Jens received his doctoral degree in Environmental Soil Chemistry from Colorado State University (USA) and his Diploma in Environmental Engineering from the Technical University Berlin (Germany).