Innovative Solutions for PFAS Contamination

Talking PFAS Episode 45 - Recorded 04/02/2025 at the ABIS QLD with Dr Cheng Zhang on PFAS in batteries and PFAS sorbents, and landfill remediation techniques.    

Welcome back to the Talking PFAS podcast.  If you are joining me for the first time a very big welcome to you.   I am a journalist and your host Kayleen Bell.

I am so very glad to be back to bring you a new season of Talking PFAS podcast.  There is so much PFAS news to catch up on and many new developments to bring you this season from both here in Australia and globally.  I will also have an important announcement at the end of today’s episode regarding sponsorship opportunities. 

Today’s episode is one of the final interviews I recorded for the QLD State Library digital PFAS oral history collection.  This interview will be added to my publicly available and free collection of interviews held in the QLD State Library in Australia.  I will put a link to that collection in the show notes.   

My guest today is Dr Cheng Zhang from the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology at the University of Queensland in Australia. He has an outstanding track record in the fields of fluoropolymers, polymer chemistry and materials science.

Today’s discussion covers many topics, and in parts it is quite technical, but you can read along with the transcript, which is automatically prepared (not by me).  The transcript prepared and fact checked by me will be available in the QLD State Library collection which may take a few months to become available. 

Also, one important disclaimer to add regarding today’s discussion is that it is provided for information purposes only.   There is a portion of our chat that discusses possible ways to reduce PFAS in the body such as blood donation, and also a possible future oral drug, that may be able to remove or reduce PFAS levels from the blood.  I emphasise strongly that this area is an upcoming research area for Dr Zhang’s team and both Dr Cheng Zhang and I are not medical practitioners, and as such, our discussion today should absolutely not be taken as medical advice for anyone concerned about PFAS levels in their blood.   Listeners are advised to seek their own medical advice from experts in the field before using any oral medication or rushing to blood donation.  Thank you.

Now, with that out of the way, it is my pleasure to tell you a little more about Dr Zhang before I play today’s episode.   

We mainly discuss how Dr Zhang and his team of researchers have developed a way to remove PFAS from water and landfill leachate using special sorbents.   The plan is to then take the removed PFAS and use it in batteries.  His team are also shortly conducting a pilot program at Brisbane’s Luggage Point Wastewater Treatment Plant to remove PFAS from landfill leachate. 

Dr Zhang says up until now there has been no treatment for PFAS in landfill leachate and also he says that the retrieved PFAS offers benefits to battery manufacturers.  He also talks about his connections with international industry partners like Chemours, US Department of Defence, and companies in Australia like GHD, and in New Zealand OCTA.

Next episode I will be bringing you a discussion that I had with David Beale.  He is from the Environment Research Unit at the CSIRO, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in the Eco Sciences Precinct in Dutton Park, QLD.   He has done some work looking at the impacts of PFAS on freshwater turtles.   It is a really interesting discussion and I encourage you to come back and have a listen to that one.

And finally, I am pleased to announce that, as many remediation companies have already reached out to me about their remediation methods for PFAS, I am now taking expressions of interest from remediation companies to explore sponsorship opportunities for the Talking PFAS podcast. Please feel free to email TalkingPFAS@gmail.com thank you very much, and make sure you provide your phone number.  

To my valued listeners:  Thank you for listening.  Please consider subscribing to the podcast so you don't miss an episode and consider posting a review.

As always all information in today's episode is copyright.  Please feel free to share links to this episode in its entirety to social media or via email.  If you are featured in the podcast you have permission to publish a link to the full episode on your own website.

Contact me TalkingPFAS@gmail.com

Links from Today's episode:

Fluorination in advanced battery design Wang et al https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:b4c24c4

OECD (2024), Synthesis report on understanding Perfluoropolyethers (PFPEs) and their life cycle, OECD Series on Risk Management of Chemicals, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/99ee2d3e-en.

Gasiorowski R, Forbes MK, Silver G, et al. Effect of Plasma and Blood Donations on Levels of Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Firefighters in Australia: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5(4):e226257. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.6257

QLD State Library - PFAS oral history collection by Kayleen Bell

https://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/discovery/fulldisplay?context=L&vid=61SLQ_INST:SLQ&search_scope=SLQ_collections&tab=All&docid=alma99183795520502061

Juliane Gluge from Zurich, Switzerland paper “An Overview of the uses of PFAS” https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2020/em/d0em00291g

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