Johnson-Edler, Cyndey

• Ph.D., Chemistry, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD 

• B.S., Med. Lab. Sci. (Industrial), South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD 

• B.S., Chemistry, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD

Anthropogenic activities contribute greatly to water contamination around the world. These pollutants include pesticides, insecticides and fertilizers from agricultural based activities, opioids, antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals from human excretion, and fluoride from natural geological deposits. The filtration of these pollutants from surface and drinking water is complicated due to the differing chemical characteristics of each of these substances. Ultrafiltration membranes are used in the water treatment process to remove contaminants in drinking water before disinfection and prior to release to homes for human use and consumption. The intent of this research is to synthesize mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) to remove numerous water pollutants. MMMs comprise a polymer matrix containing homogeneously dispersed fillers with differing transport properties that have adjustable permeability and selectively dependent on the pollutant/substance desired to be removed from water. The proposed polymer:filler matrix to be used in this investigation is PES:MOFs. Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) are a class of porous materials comprised of metal ions or clusters that are bonded to organic likers in a specific geometrical structure which can be designed with precise chemical composition to bind to specific substances. Phase inversion synthesis and Raman spectroscopy characterization of PES membranes have been used previously in this study and the intention is to employ this method again to create the MMMs. The specific focus of this investigation is to synthesize and characterize a water filtration membrane consisting of PES, and MOFs explicitly designed to remove as many of the aforementioned pollutants simultaneously based on the chemical structure(s) of the substance(s) to be removed.