Heavy metal pollutants, such as lead, mercury, and cadmium, are released in waste waters and are hazardous to soils, plants, animals, and humans. These non-biodegradable elements are persistent in the environment and increase in concentration as they travel up the food chain via bioaccumulation. Highly selective filtration materials are needed to target and capture these ions in water in a cost and energy efficient manner.
With support from the Department of Energy, Tetramer is developing a new commercial adsorbent filtration medium for two purposes. First, this technology can allow for the selective capture of toxic heavy metal contaminants in water sources. Second, it can be used in manufacturing waste streams to recover precious metal catalysts which can then be recycled to reduce costs.
For either use, a customized, high selectivity adsorbent filtration medium is ideal to capture target analytes with high selectivity and efficiency. The result is a longer lifetime, more cost-effective adsorbent that requires less maintenance and fewer regeneration cycles.
During Phase I, Tetramer will work to fabricate this material using commercially available components. The filter materials produced will be characterized for effectiveness of heavy metal ion capture in aqueous environments, for water stability, and for recyclability.
Following the successful completion of the Phase I program, Tetramer will begin the scale up and commercialization of the novel materials for use in water polishing for industrial or municipal operations and/or recycling of precious metal wastes for extremely rare precious metals like rhodium or platinum.
Tetramer is proud to begin work on these promising new materials that could be utilized in water polishing for industrial or municipal operations and/or for capture and recycling of precious metals used in manufacturing processes.
DOE Phase I SBIR: Hybrid Porous Materials for the Selective Capture of Contaminants Tetramer Technologies, L.L.C.
DOE-FOA-0002359
PI: Stephen Hudson TOPIC #19(b)
