Episode 2

Innovating the Future: Taking on Forever Chemicals with Coflux Purification feat. Alec Ajnsztajn and Jeremy Daum

We recorded a special episode of Beyond the Hedges live at Alumni Weekend where host David Mansouri got a chance to have a conversation with Rice alums and PhDs in material science and nanoengineering Alec Ajnsztajn and Jeremy Daum about their exciting new undertaking, complete with questions from the audience. Alec and Jeremy are co-founders of Coflux Purification, a company that grew out of the Rice Office of Innovation, and now does pioneering work with forever chemicals, or PFAS. They explain the major health and environmental risks posed by PFAS as well as their innovative solution that combines capture and destruction of these chemicals using covalent organic frameworks and light. Jeremy and Alec also recount their academic and professional journeys, including the collaboration and support they've received from Rice University's campus resources along the way. They close the discussion with talking about the future and the potential long-term impact of their technology, followed by a question and answer session with audience members, offering advice for other budding entrepreneurs at Rice. Let us know you’re listening by filling out this form. We will be sending listeners Beyond the Hedges Swag every month. Episode Guide: 00:00 Welcome and Introduction 01:26 Understanding Forever Chemicals 02:24 The Health Impact of PFAS 05:23 Alec's Journey: From Infrastructure to Innovation 07:26 Jeremy's Path: From Rail Guns to Nanotechnology 09:37 The Birth of Coflux Purification 13:37 The Innovation Fellowship and Early Funding 20:59 Simplifying the PFAS Treatment Process 21:34 Future Promise of PFAS Technology 23:55 Support from Rice University 31:09 Questions from the Audience 31:26 Regulatory Framework and Challenges 34:29 Implementation and Cost Considerations 38:09 Rapid Fire Questions 41:39 Conclusion and Final Thoughts Beyond The Hedges is a production of Rice University and is produced by University FM.

Beyond the Hedges

December 10, 202541m 57s

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Show Notes

Alec and Jeremy are co-founders of Coflux Purification, a company that grew out of the Rice Office of Innovation, and now does pioneering work with forever chemicals, or PFAS. They explain the major health and environmental risks posed by PFAS as well as their innovative solution that combines capture and destruction of these chemicals using covalent organic frameworks and light.

Jeremy and Alec also recount their academic and professional journeys, including the collaboration and support they've received from Rice University's campus resources along the way. They close the discussion with talking about the future and the potential long-term impact of their technology, followed by a question and answer session with audience members, offering advice for other budding entrepreneurs at Rice.

Let us know you’re listening by filling out this form. We will be sending listeners Beyond the Hedges Swag every month.

Episode Guide:

00:00 Welcome and Introduction
01:26 Understanding Forever Chemicals
02:24 The Health Impact of PFAS
05:23 Alec's Journey: From Infrastructure to Innovation
07:26 Jeremy's Path: From Rail Guns to Nanotechnology
09:37 The Birth of Coflux Purification
13:37 The Innovation Fellowship and Early Funding
20:59 Simplifying the PFAS Treatment Process
21:34 Future Promise of PFAS Technology
23:55 Support from Rice University
31:09 Questions from the Audience
31:26 Regulatory Framework and Challenges
34:29 Implementation and Cost Considerations
38:09 Rapid Fire Questions
41:39 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Beyond The Hedges is a production of Rice University and is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

Making a real impact with nanotechnology

08:27: [Jeremy Daum] A lot of this nanotechnology is fantastic at doing the best at anything it's ever done at it before. But can you make enough of it to be useful is always the question. And so my research has always been focused on, well, let's make enough of it so that someone can do something with it. So I actually then. Took that, and that's when the first project that Alec and I worked on here at Rice Together was how we can mass produce the material. That's actually now the fundamental part of our technology. So I've always been wanting to build stuff. I love making reactors. My job in the lab is I've made about five different reactors in the last two weeks. It's been fantastic. But kind of just this whole thing of how can we take this technology that I know can do so much? How can we make it big enough and fast enough that it can make it real impact in people's lives? And it just so happened that the hammer fit the nail that this stuff is really good at dealing with BFOS.

The Forever in “forever” chemicals

01:39: [Jeremy Daum] So PFAS, or Forever Chemicals, they are a type of microplastic, though. They are more like your Teflon stuff that you use every day, stuff that your grandparents have been using since like the forties. They're incredibly robust. They're hydrophobic. They are chemically resistant. They're great in places that you need something to just not wear away, but when you use those kind of products and you throw them out, that plastic, that Teflon doesn't go away. It goes into landfills, and then it gets into the environment. And that's what makes it so insidious, because the reason why they're called forever chemicals is because they have a half-life of about 40,000 years. So anything we made back in the forties is still going around today.

Understanding the history of the problem

23:09: [Alec Ajnsztajn] I consider myself to be a polymer scientist in the forties and fifties, we spent a lot of fun time doing a lot of fun chemistry, and didn't really think through how a lot of that chemistry wound up

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