Explore the Nano World
Wen's Research Group
Wen Zhang, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE
Principal Investigator
Professor
Phone: (973) 596-5520
Fax: (973) 596-5790
Email: wen.zhang@njit.edu
Office Location: Colton Hall 211
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2021 LSRPA poster competition winner
Details about this competition could be found:
https://news.njit.edu/three-njit-engineering-teams-showcase-their-research-epas-national-student-design-expo
https://p3.scgcorp.com/
On February 4th, 2021, Fangzhou Liu attended the 2021 New Jersey Site Remediation Virtual Conference and joined the Student Poster Competition. So many attendees were able to review the 4 student posters submitted, ask the students questions, and vote on their favorite. In a very close competition, Fangzhou Liu’s Microwave Catalytic Remediation of Poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs)-contaminated Soil was the winner. In his research, he investigated the applications of microwave catalytic technology in the remediation of PFAS contaminated Soil. His previous study has achieved effective PFOA degradation in water through a microwave-Fenton like reaction using microwave-responsive catalyst (BiFeO3) under microwave irradiation. In addition, the penetration of microwave into varies media such as polymers and water under microwave irradiation was assessed. The ongoing research aims to implement this novel technology to treat PFAS contaminated soil under hypothesis that microwave irradiation could penetrate certain soil depth and selectively excite catalysts in the soil to enable radical production and oxidative or reductive reactions for PFAS’s defluorination and mineralization. This study of microwave-catalytic soil remediation technology may open new avenues toward cost-effective soil remediation for refractory contaminants.