(359d) Tuning Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing for Water Remediation Applications

Additive manufacturing (AM) is enabling complex geometries and multimaterial structures that cannot be fabricated using traditional approaches, opening novel design spaces for water treatment applications. Material extrusion additive manufacturing is one of the most identifiable modes of AM that implements predominantly polymeric materials, including broad ranges of filled systems. In this talk, I will highlight our efforts towards remediation of multiple water contaminants using particle loaded (up to >30 wt%) thermoplastic filament printing. Target contaminants in our work have included ammonia, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), microcystin toxin released in harmful algal blooms (HABs) and perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The benefits afforded by additive manufacturing over traditional filled polymer processing methodologies and compared to current remediation strategies will be highlighted, including aspects such as deployability, selective local photocatalytic efficacy and targeted adsorption kinetics. The results presented here will also further challenge the traditional interpretation of “printability” and the application specific relevance of this concept.