Presentation description

Despite continuous advancement in water treatment technology, industrial pollution has caused the spread of both microplastics and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) into our waterways. These substances are known to be harmful to the human body, and are notoriously difficult to detect and remove due to their small size and their chemical stability. This project details the detection of microplastics and PFAS using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and tandem Liquid Chromatography with Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS). In addition, molecular simulation was used to model the potential interaction between the common microplastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) with GenX, an increasingly common PFAS molecule.