Yechan Won, Ph.D., (Illinois); and Mary Ensch, Ph.D., (Wisconsin) will present at the Annual American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Midwest Regional Conference and Jarad Champion, PE, BCEE will chair one session on March 18, 2021.

Jarad Champion is a Senior Engineer and an AAEES Board-Certified Environmental Engineer with more than 15 years of experience working on heavy industrial stormwater, wastewater, and hazardous waste compliance and remediation projects. Jarad has worked on treatment systems and regulatory compliance for remediating groundwater impacted by chemical releases sites across the nation. He has prepared the preliminary design for a drinking water treatment system using multiple advanced technologies. His expertise also includes designing and implementing vapor intrusion mitigation for residential redevelopment projects. He also has experience on water resources for master-planned communities.

Mary Ensch is a Senior Staff Professional with experience in chemical engineering, PFAS remediation, and thermodynamics. She has authored and co-authored articles on PFAS destruction and presented on PFAS destruction at academic conferences and industry events.

Yechan Won is a Senior Staff Professional with experience in environmental engineering technology and chemical engineering. His research focuses on the synthesis and application of various materials, including titanium oxide (TiO2)-based composites and polyelectrolyte complexes, and his recent work involves the development and functionalization of polymeric membranes.

The AIChE Midwest Regional Conference (MRC) was organized by the AIChE Chicago Local Section with support from AIChE Global, the MRC provides an opportunity for engineers and scientists in the region to learn about new technologies and network with others in the field. A particular objective of the conference is to build technical relationships between industrial practitioners and researchers in the governmental and academic spheres. While the conference will not be in-person this year, the virtual edition will seek to maintain the same atmosphere of comradery and learning, centered around a robust technical program featuring the topical areas listed further below.

AIChE is the world’s leading organization for chemical engineering professionals with more than 60,000 members from more than 110 countries. AIChE has a breadth of resources and expertise that are relevant to both core process industries and emerging areas, such as translational medicine.

Abstract

Title: Environmental Compliance Remediation
Presenter : Jarad Champion (Chair)
Time: 3:45-5:15 PM CST on March 18, 2021

Title: Destructive Technologies for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)
Presenter : Mary Ensch
Time: 3:45 PM CST on March 16, 2021

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are emerging contaminants that have toxic health effects. Due to their wide-spread presence in the environment and inability to degrade, they require remediation. Currently, remediation methods that are implemented are mass transfer processes. These may include excavation and disposal for solids, and adsorption or filtration methods for liquids. These technologies do not destroy the PFAS in the contaminated matrix but transfer them to either a landfill, media such as granular activated carbon (GAC) or anion exchange resins (IX), or into a concentrated waste stream. The primarily known and used destruction technology for PFAS is incineration. However, there are knowledge gaps surrounding the generation of byproducts with this technology, or its ability to achieve complete combustion of all PFAS. Due to the increasing need for destructive technologies, university laboratories have begun investigation into alternatives. These up-and-coming technologies include electrochemical oxidation, heat activated persulfate oxidation, ozone oxidation, smoldering, and plasma defluorination. This presentation will describe the state of development of each technology with a primary focus on electrochemical oxidation.

Title: Improving Membrane Fouling Resistance in Water Filtration with Polyelectrolyte Complex Sacrificial Layers
Presenter : Yechan Wong
Time:4:10 PM CST on March 16, 2021

The improvement of fouling control in water filtration processes by promoting optimum membrane performance and reducing capital, and operations and maintenance costs. A polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) sacrificial layer casted on a ceramic membrane via salt induced phase inversion was prepared and functionalized with negatively charged carboxymethyl chitosan (CMC−) and positively charged quaternized chitosan (QC+) to achieve membrane fouling resistance. The CMC− functionalized PEC (CMC−/PEC) and QC+ functionalized PEC (QC+/PEC) were evaluated for their surface charge, antibacterial action against Pseudomonas putida, and flux decline and recovery using a synthetic feed solution. CMC−/PEC and QC+/PEC exhibited charge-based, selective repulsion of model organic and inorganic substances and displayed lower bacterial attachment and higher bactericidal activity compared to those of a bare ceramic membrane. In fact, the ceramic membrane was negligibly bactericidal whereas CMC−/PEC and QC+/PEC had cell viability of 34.4 ± 10.2% and 30.6 ± 8.2%, respectively. Among the PEC samples, CMC−/PEC had the lowest cell attachment while QC+/PEC had the highest cell attachment because of electrostatic interactions between Pseudomonas putida and the PEC surfaces. In the flux decline and recovery experiments, the PEC samples showed lower rates of flux decline due to organic fouling than did the bare ceramic membrane and promoted much higher flux recoveries through removal and reestablishment of the PEC sacrificial layer than simply backwashing the bare ceramic membranes after fouling has occurred. The PEC opens a new possibility of effective membrane fouling control through surface functionalization and creation of sacrificial layer for an underlying membrane.

More Information

About the event: https://www.aiche.org/conferences/midwest-regional-conference/2021
About AIChE: https://www.aiche.org/
For consultation regarding environmental compliance remediation, contact Jarad at JChampion@Geosyntec.com
Learn more about Jarad:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jarad-champion-2428253/
Learn more about Mary: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marykensch/
Learn more about Yechan:https://www.linkedin.com/in/yechan-won-1524764a/