A new startup spun out the University of BC’s Chemical and Biological Engineering department — ReAct Materials — is using wood waste to create a new type of filtration system that not only captures but also neutralizes forever chemicals. These chemicals — per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) – are extremely useful and have become almost ubiquitous, due to their unique properties of being resistant to heat, water, oil and other chemicals. Everything from Teflon-coated pans to water resistant fabrics and fire-fighting foams contain PFAS chemicals. With his research team at UBC, Johan Foster, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering and co-founder of ReAct Materials, developed an adsorption filter made from wood waste that contains a catalyst that helps breaks the chemicals down. …“The novel part about our filter is that it absorbs and destroys the PFAS,” Foster explained. “The key part is the destruction. There is no system out there that destroys PFAS.”

Additional coverage by Rochelle Baker in the National Observer: UBC engineers may have the solution to ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water