Technology Development
Removal and destruction of PFAS
The extreme persistence of PFAS and their high mobility in water challenge current treatment technologies. At the same time, there is an urgent need to prevent the further spread of PFAS from contamination hotspots.
We are developing efficient and sustainable technologies to safely remove PFAS from water and soil. These technologies are aimed at remediating historically contaminated sites where PFAS have reached soil and groundwater, for example through firefighting activities using PFAS-containing foams. We are also developing strategies for efficient point-of-source treatment of industrial wastewater, as current essential uses of PFAS must prevent further emissions to the environment.
Topics and Projects
Innovations in materials and processes are combined to create technologies that are safe, affordable and have a minimal carbon footprint.
Projects and Activities
Market introduction: In-situ sorption barriers for cut-off of PFAS plumes
PFAS-specialized colloidal activated carbon with optimized surface chemistry has been brought to remediation market. Intraplex® is based on UFZ know-how and licensed to Intrapore GmbH. The product has been successfully commercialised for groundwater remediation.
Sustainable management of spent in-situ sorption barriers
PhD Fellowship Programm of Deutschen Bundesstiftung Umwelt supports the research on innovative solutions for the sustainable management of spent in-situ sorption carbon barriers. The basic idea is to recover the concentrated pollutant load through a combination of targeted mobilisation of the carbon-bound PFAS and hydraulic measures. Changing of the carbon surface chemistry is studied as tool for targeted pollutant release.
Project ContaSorb
Development and field pilot testing of new colloidal materials for in-situ groundwater treatment. Beside colloidal activated carbon, FeS was used to generate sulfate radicals from persulfate for PFAS destruction. (BMBF, Förderkennzeichen 03XP0090A, 02/2017 – 06/2020)
Project Fate-PFT
Well-founded source identification and degradation assessment of polyfluorinated surfactants (PFTs) in the water cycle using component-specific isotope analysis and diagnostic ratios ((BMBF- KMU-Innovativ, Förderkennzeichen 02WQ1598B, Laufzeit 07/2021 – 12/2023)
Involved Scientists
Dr. Sarah Sühnholz
Jannes Beihsner
Industry Partner(s)
Projects and Activities
Project ZeoPFAS: H4PFOS degradation from electroplating wastewater
Process development and pilot testing: With a combination of PFAS accumulation from water at a zeolite adsorber and regeneration of the adsorber by heat-activated persulfate we reach complete mineralization of polyfluorinated compounds and perfluorinated carboxylic acids. The process is patented by the UFZ (Patent: EP3873659 (EU); US12017200 (USA).
Involved Scientists
Dr. Robert Köhler
Industry Partners
Winning Plastics – Diepersdorf GmbH (electroplating)
Clariant Produkte GmbH - Bitterfeld (zeolite supply)
eneotech Umwelt GmbH (plant construction)
Projects and Activities
Project 2D4PFAS
Material and process design for a Electro-Catch&Treat process with advanced 2D functional materials.
Project FABEKO
Electro-assisted sorption and desorption modules using flexible electrodes in the Swiss-Roll design were successfully tested in a pilot trial to remove PFAS from a soil washing solution.
Involved Scientists
Dr. Sarah Sühnholz
Dr. Robert Köhler
Industry Partners
As of 01/2025
Qian, L., Zhao, H., Schierz, A., Mackenzie, K., & Georgi, A. (2024): A Deep Insight into Perfluorooctanoic Acid Photodegradation Using Metal Ion-Exchanged Zeolites. ACS ES&T Engineering 4 (3) 748–757. 10.1021/acsestengg.3c00462
Saeidi, N., Lai, A., Harnisch, F., Sigmund, G. (2024): A FAIR comparison of activated carbon, biochar, cyclodextrins, polymers, resins, and metal organic frameworks for the adsorption of per- and polyfluorinated substances, Chem. Eng. J. 498 , art. 155456. 10.1016/j.cej.2024.155456
Kopinke, F.-D. (2024): Correspondence on "Effects of temperature and DC electric fields on perfluorooctanoic acid sorption kinetics to activated carbon" Environ. Sci. Technol. 58 (44), 19902 – 19903. 10.1021/acs.est.4c07601
Saeidi, N., Harnisch, F., Presser, V., Kopinke, F.-D., Georgi, A. (2023): Electrosorption of organic compounds: State of the art, challenges, performance, and perspectives, Chem. Eng. J. 471 , art. 144354. 10.1016/j.cej.2023.144354
Georgi, A., Mackenzie, K. (2022): PFAS – eine Herausforderung für die Umwelttechnologie
Mitteilungen der Fachgruppe Umweltchemie und Ökotoxikologie / Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker 28 (2), 53 - 57
Qian, L., Kopinke, F.-D., Scherzer, T., Griebel, J., Georgi, A. (2022): Enhanced degradation of perfluorooctanoic acid by heat-activated persulfate in the presence of zeolites. Chem. Eng. J. 429, art. 132500. 10.1016/j.cej.2021.132500
Zhou, J., Zhang, Y., Balda, M., Presser, V., Kopinke, F.-D., Georgi, A. (2022): Electro-assisted removal of polar and ionic organic compounds from water using activated carbon felts, Chem. Eng. J. 433, Part 2 , art. 133544. 10.1016/j.cej.2021.133544
Zhou, J., Saeidi, N., Wick, L.Y., Xie, Y., Kopinke, F.-D., Georgi, A. (2022): Efficient removal of trifluoroacetic acid from water using surface-modified activated carbon and electro-assisted desorption, J. Hazard. Mater. 436 , art. 129051. 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.129051
Zhou, J. (2022): Improved sorptive removal of polar organic micropollutants from water using surface modified and polarized activated carbons, Dissertation, Universität Leipzig, Fakultät für Chemie und Mineralogie, PhD Dissertation 2/2022, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung - UFZ, Leipzig, 9, 178 pp.
Sühnholz, S. (2022): Mechanistische Untersuchungen zum Abbau von Perfluoroktansäure mit FeS-aktiviertem Peroxodisulfat für die In-situ-Grundwasserreinigung, Dissertation, Universität Leipzig, Fakultät für Chemie und Mineralogie, PhD Dissertation 3/2022, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung - UFZ, Leipzig, V, 197 pp.
Sühnholz, S., Gawel, A., Kopinke, F.-D., Mackenzie, K. (2021): Evidence of heterogeneous degradation of PFOA by activated persulfate – FeS as adsorber and activator. Chem. Eng. J. 423, art. 130102. 10.1016/j.cej.2021.130102
Qian, L., Kopinke, F.-D., Georgi, A. (2021): Photodegradation of perfluorooctanesulfonic acid on Fe-zeolites in water. Environ. Sci. Technol. 55 (1), 614 – 622. 10.1021/acs.est.0c04558
Zhou, J., Saeidi, N., Wick, L.Y., Kopinke, F.-D., Georgi, A. (2021): Adsorption of polar and ionic organic compounds on activated carbon: Surface chemistry matters, Sci. Total Environ. 794 , art. 148508. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148508
Saeidi, N., Kopinke, F.-D., Georgi, A. (2021): What is specific in adsorption of perfluoroalkyl acids on carbon materials? Chemosphere 273 , art. 128520. 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.128520
Saeidi, N., Kopinke, F.-D., Georgi, A. (2021): Controlling adsorption of perfluoroalkyl acids on activated carbon felt by means of electrical potentials Chem. Eng. J. 416 , art. 129070. 10.1016/j.cej.2021.129070
Kopinke, F.-D., Frenzel, L.-M. (2021): Comment on “Thermal stability and decomposition of perfluoroalkyl substances on spent granular activated carbon”, Environ. Sci. Technol. Lett. 8 (4), 362 – 363. 10.1021/acs.estlett.0c00742
Kopinke, F.-D. (2021): Comments on “Highly selective removal of perfluorinated contaminants by adsorption on all-silica zeolite Beta” Angew. Chem.-Int. Edit. 60 (25), 13708 – 13709. 10.1002/anie.202100231
Chen, Y., Georgi, A., Zhang, W., Kopinke, F.-D., Yan, J., Saeidi, N., Li, J., Gu, M., Chen, M. (2021): Mechanistic insights into fast adsorption of perfluoroalkyl substances on carbonate-layered double hydroxides, J. Hazard. Mater. 408 , art. 124815. 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124815
Saeidi, N., Kopinke, F.-D., Georgi, A. (2020): Understanding the effect of carbon surface chemistry on adsorption of perfluorinated alkyl substances, Chem. Eng. J. 381 , art. 122689. 10.1016/j.cej.2019.122689
Saeidi, N. (2021): Improving adsorption of perfluoroalkyl acids by tailoring surface chemistry of activated carbon and electric potentials, Dissertation, Universität Leipzig, Fakultät für Chemie und Mineralogie, PhD Dissertation 6/2021, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung - UFZ, Leipzig, 184 pp.
Qian, L. (2021): Degradation of perfluoroalkyl acids using zeolites. Abbau von Perfluoralkylsäuren unter Verwendung von Zeolithen, Dissertation, Universität Leipzig, Fakultät für Chemie und Mineralogie, PhD Dissertation 12/2021, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung - UFZ, Leipzig, 157 pp.
Qian, L., Georgi, A., Gonzalez-Olmos, R., Kopinke, F.-D. (2020): Degradation of perfluorooctanoic acid adsorbed on Fe-zeolites with molecular oxygen as oxidant under UV-A irradiation, Appl. Catal. B-Environ. 278 , art. 119283. 10.1016/j.apcatb.2020.119283
Georgi, A., Bosch, J., Bruns, J., Mackenzie, K., Saeidi, N., Kopinke, F.-D. (2020): Kolloidale Aktivkohle für die In-situ-Sanierung von PFAS-kontaminierten Grundwasserleitern , altlasten spektrum 29 (6), 232 – 237. 10.37307/j.1864-8371.2020.06.04