{"id":4928,"date":"2026-04-10T15:20:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T19:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/owltopia\/?p=4928"},"modified":"2026-04-10T15:20:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T19:20:20","slug":"temple-engineers-develop-air-bubble-technique-to-remove-water-contaminants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/owltopia\/2026\/04\/10\/temple-engineers-develop-air-bubble-technique-to-remove-water-contaminants\/","title":{"rendered":"Temple Engineers Develop Air-Bubble Technique to Remove Water Contaminants"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Md Saiful Islam, an environmental engineering PhD student from Bangladesh, and Gangadhar Andaluri, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering who initially came to Temple as an international scholar from India, together are advancing water treatment technology that sustainably removes PFAS chemicals and microplastics from drinking water.\u00a0

Water treatment plants devote significant resources to removing contaminants from our drinking water. PFAS, the so-called forever chemicals linked to cancer and other health issues, and microplastics can be especially difficult to filter out. But new research from\u00a0Temple\u2019s College of Engineering<\/a>\u00a0may someday offer a simple, sustainable solution which relies on an unexpected ingredient: air bubbles.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Md Saiful Islam was selected as the 2025\u00a0Graduate Research Award Sustainability Program (GRASP)<\/a>\u00a0recipient from the Office of Sustainability to conduct research on combined removal technology for microplastics and PFAS. He is using air bubbles to create foam that captures contaminants and allows them to be easily filtered from water. Unlike existing foam-based treatments, Saiful\u2019s approach can remove both PFAS and microplastics, and it doesn\u2019t require toxic chemicals.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The technology was recognized with an Innovation and Collaboration Award from the Water Resources Association of the Delaware River Basin<\/a>, and Saiful is beginning to attract interest from partners in the water utilities industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It all started while analyzing water collected by the University of New Hampshire. Saiful and his faculty advisor, Gangadhar Andaluri<\/a>, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, found that most of the PFAS were concentrated in the foam at the water\u2019s surface. They became interested in the mechanisms that resulted in foaming and wondered if the same phenomenon could be used to remove PFAS and microplastics. They then led several studies analyzing how PFAS and microplastics interact and coexist in water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPFAS have hydrophobic tails, meaning they are repelled by water,\u201d said Saiful, who spent 10 years as a consultant on water contaminants before coming to Temple. \u201cWe thought if we could introduce air bubbles to the water, then the hydrophobic tail would be attracted to the bubble and get trapped on its surface. As the bubbles rise, they carry the interacted contaminants, PFAS and microplastics, and we can then remove the foam and the contaminants from the surface of the water.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The approach removes contaminants without the use of additional toxic chemicals, which Saiful said makes it more sustainable than existing methods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also remarkably efficient. The foam concentration makes up just 1% of the total filtered water, so when Saiful treats 100 gallons of water, he produces a maximum of one gallon of contaminated foam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He then treats the remaining 1% of contaminated foam using a method called supercritical water oxidation, in which contaminants are destroyed by high temperature and pressurized water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That same method, supercritical water oxidation, is already being used by few industrial water facilities, but as the sole method for removing contaminants, it requires significantly higher energy as well as greater capital and operational costs than Saiful\u2019s method. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another existing method utilizes granular-activated carbon technology to capture contaminants on the surface of carbon. However, this approach is carbon-intensive, which has its own issues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCarbon treatment itself is a challenge,\u201d Saiful said. \u201cAnd you\u2019re not removing the contaminants. You\u2019re just transferring them from one medium to another, leading to incomplete contaminants removal and the generation of secondary waste, so carbon management becomes another issue with this method.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saiful\u2019s breakthrough comes at an opportune time. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is introducing new regulations in 2031, which establish maximum contaminant levels for six different kinds of PFAS in drinking water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEveryone is looking for sustainable ways to meet these new regulations,\u201d Saiful said. He and Andaluri have partnered with the Valley Forge Sewer Authority, a local water utility company, which provides them with wastewater for experimental validation of the process.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople are already asking about our next plans, and how we can implement this technology in the field. It is a simple system, but it can have a profound impact.\u201d<\/p>– Saiful Islam<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Saiful has also conducted interviews with more than 20 water utility stakeholders to understand their real-world operational challenges and needs. Many of these stakeholders have shown strong interest in Saiful\u2019s innovation, he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can easily integrate foam fractionation technology at the end of existing water treatment plant processes,\u201d he said. \u201cIf existing water treatment plants decide to use our technology, they don\u2019t need major renovations. But if you switch to other techniques, you would require significant modifications to the plant.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saiful demonstrated his technology during a Nov. 5 showcase at the College of Engineering. He and Andaluri are now working on optimizing the technology and testing it on different water sources, including the Schuylkill River and Atlantic Ocean. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As they continue to make improvements, they will work with Temple\u2019s Office of the Vice President for Research<\/a> to pursue patent protections for the innovation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople are already asking about our next plans, and how we can implement this technology in the field,\u201d Saiful said. \u201cIt is a simple system, but it can have a profound impact.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article originally appeared on Temple Now<\/a><\/em>
Written by Johnny Hart, KLN ’18<\/em>
Photo courtesy of Betsy Manning<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Md Saiful Islam, an environmental engineering PhD student from Bangladesh, and Gangadhar Andaluri, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering who initially came to Temple…<\/p>\n

Continue ReadingTemple Engineers Develop Air-Bubble Technique to Remove Water Contaminants<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":37340,"featured_media":4929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[225,76,54,127,48],"class_list":["post-4928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-resources","tag-environmental-engineering","tag-global-engagement","tag-international-students","tag-partnerships","tag-technology-innovation","ratio-16-9","entry"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/owltopia\/files\/2026\/01\/engineering-pic--600x400.jpeg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/owltopia\/files\/2026\/01\/engineering-pic--600x600.jpeg","author_info":{"display_name":"Vaishnavi Ramchandran","author_link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/owltopia\/author\/tuo88696\/"},"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/owltopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/owltopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/owltopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/owltopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37340"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/owltopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4928"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/owltopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5041,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/owltopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4928\/revisions\/5041"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/owltopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/owltopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/owltopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/owltopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}