Breakthrough Water Filter Removes PFAS in Minutes, Scientists Say

Researchers at Rice College’s Water Institute imagine they might have discovered an answer to our endlessly chemical downside, at the least in relation to our water.

In late 2025, a staff of researchers revealed their findings within the journal Superior Supplies, demonstrating a brand new method to capturing per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) substances, often known as “endlessly chemical substances,” which persist for prolonged intervals.

These chemical substances are artifical and have been broadly utilized in client merchandise for the reason that Nineteen Fifties. Meals & Wine beforehand cited the Interstate Expertise & Regulatory Council (ITRC), which defined that these chemical substances are broadly utilized in client items as a result of they “impart oil, water, stain, and soil repellency,” in addition to “thermal stability and friction discount.” Primarily, something moisture-wicking or nonstick is probably going coated with the stuff. 

Researchers and well being specialists have recognized these chemical substances as doubtlessly dangerous to human well being in varied methods, together with altering levels of cholesterol and impairing the immune system. It is essential to notice that a lot of the science is ongoing; nevertheless, examine after examine is exhibiting related outcomes relating to their affect on well being. 

So, how can this new expertise developed by Rice College researchers assist?

In response to the staff, they developed a new filtration approach that makes use of a layered “double hydroxide (LDH) materials,” created from copper and aluminum, which might seize PFAS about “100 occasions sooner than industrial carbon filters.” 

“To my astonishment, this LDH compound captured PFAS greater than 1,000 occasions higher than different supplies,” Youngkun Chung, a postdoctoral fellow and the examine’s lead writer, stated. “It additionally labored extremely quick, eradicating massive quantities of PFAS inside minutes, about 100 occasions sooner than industrial carbon filters.”

As for why it really works so properly, the staff defined that it is all due to the filter’s “inner construction,” during which the layers create “slight cost imbalances” that trigger the PFAS molecules to bind with “each velocity and power.”

They even put this filter to the take a look at with river water, faucet water, and wastewater to evaluate its efficiency. In every case, they discovered it to be “extremely efficient,” and the staff hopes to have their filter included into each ingesting and wastewater amenities sooner or later.

“We’re excited by the potential of this one-of-a-kind LDH-based expertise to remodel how PFAS-contaminated water sources are handled within the close to future,” Michael S. Wong, a professor and division chair of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Rice College, added. “It is the results of a unprecedented worldwide collaboration and the creativity of younger researchers.”

Whereas this expertise should be a bit far on the horizon, there are methods you’ll be able to scale back PFAS in your water proper now, together with utilizing one among these water filters, which additionally filter out microplastics, making them a sound funding till we will get them out of waterways for good. And when you actually wish to go the gap, it’s possible you’ll wish to change that nonstick pan with PFAS-free cookware, too.