Detlef Knappe
Bio
Detlef Knappe is the S. James Ellen Distinguished Professor of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at NC State University. He received his BS, MS, and PhD degrees from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and he joined the NC State faculty in 1996. He is the Deputy Director of NC State’s Superfund Center “Environmental and Health Effects of PFAS” and is a member of the Center for Human Health and the Environment.
Dr. Knappe is interested in drinking water quality and treatment, water reuse, organic micropollutants, development of water treatment processes for polar and persistent organic pollutants, and the fate of organic pollutants in solid waste landfills. He is a Trustee of the American Water Works Association’s (AWWA’s) Water Science and Research Division, and he is a member of the North Carolina Secretaries’ Science Advisory Board. He serves as Associate Editor for AWWA Water Science. He also serves on the AWWA’s Organic Contaminants Research Committee and the Standards Committee for Activated Carbon.
Detlef Knappe and his students have been the recipients of numerous best paper, best poster, and best thesis awards. He is a recipient of the NCSU Outstanding Teacher Award, the Bill Horn Kimley-Horn Faculty Award for excellence in graduate and undergraduate teaching and other accomplishments at NC State University, and the Young Civil Engineer Achievement Award from the University of Illinois.
Education
Ph.D. Environmental Engineering University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 1996
M.S. Environmental Engineering University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 1991
B.S. Civil Engineering, University of Illinois University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 1989
Area(s) of Expertise
Dr. Knappe has conducted research on water treatment processes for over 25 years. Current research efforts focus on (1) developing and evaluating physical-chemical treatment processes for the control of disinfection byproduct precursors and trace organic compounds (taste and odor causing substances, carcinogenic volatile organic contaminants, 1,4-dioxane, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, endocrine disrupting chemicals, antibiotics, and other pharmaceutically active compounds), and (2) overcoming gaps between the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act by developing information about the effects of reactive and unregulated wastewater contaminants on drinking water quality and treatment. Funding agencies that have supported or are currently supporting his research include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the National Science Foundation, the Water Research Foundation, the North Carolina Water Resources Research Institute, and the North Carolina Urban Water Consortium.
Grants
The Science and Technologies for Phosphorus Sustainability (STEPS) Center is a convergence research hub for addressing the fundamental challenges associated with phosphorus sustainability. The vision of STEPS is to develop new scientific and technological solutions to regulating, recovering and reusing phosphorus that can readily be adopted by society through fundamental research conducted by a broad, highly interdisciplinary team. Key outcomes include new atomic-level knowledge of phosphorus interactions with engineered and natural materials, new understanding of phosphorus mobility at industrial, farm, and landscape scales, and prioritization of best management practices and strategies drawn from diverse stakeholder perspectives. Ultimately, STEPS will provide new scientific understanding, enabling new technologies, and transformative improvements in phosphorus sustainability.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are emerging as a major public health problem in North Carolina and across the United States. PFAS comprise a class of over 5,000 compounds. Their unique chemical properties have been harnessed to make consumer and industrial products more water, stain, and grease resistant; they are found in products as diverse as cosmetics and flame-retardants. PFAS are resistant to degradation, move easily through the environment, and accumulate in living organisms. Exposure to PFAS has been associated with health effects including cancer and toxicity to the liver, reproductive development, and thyroid and immune systems. Despite widespread detection in the environment and evidence of increasing human exposure, understanding about PFAS toxicity, its bioaccumulative potential in dietary sources such as aquatic organisms, and effective remediation remain notably understudied. The recent discovery by this proposed Center������������������s Deputy Director, Dr. Detlef Knappe, of widespread PFAS contamination in the Cape Fear River watershed in NC underscores that these compounds are in need of immediate investigation.. The goal of our Center is to advance understanding about the environmental and health impacts of PFAS. To meet this goal we are employing a highly trans-disciplinary approach that will integrate leaders in diverse fields (epidemiology, environmental science and engineering, biology, toxicology, immunology, data science, and advanced analytics); all levels of biological organization (biomolecule, pathway, cell, tissue, organ, model organism, human, and human population); state-of-the-art analytical technologies; cutting-edge data science approaches; a recognized track record in interdisciplinary, environmental health science (EHS) training; and well-established partnerships with government and community stakeholders.
The overarching goal of this research is to determine the fate of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) during thermal reactivation of granular activated carbon (GAC) that had treated PFAS-laden water. Bench-scale studies will be conducted to determine reactivation conditions that release PFAS from spent GAC and lead to PFAS mineralization. To close the fluorine mass balance, this study will focus on laboratory-loaded GAC with known PFAS loadings. Limited experiments will be conducted with spent GAC from remediation sites with high PFAS levels.
The objectives of this research are to (1) identify multimedia sampling locations in the state of North Carolina for non-targeted PFAS analysis, (2) conduct non-targeted PFAS analysis of multimedia samples, and (3) share results with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.
Incineration can destroy per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), but the conditions required for destruction are not known. This research aims to elucidate the fate of these compounds through sewage sludge incinerators (SSIs), and thereby provide utilities and decision makers with an indication regarding the extent SSIs can reduce PFAS discharges to the environment which is important for informing PFAS handling strategies.
The overall goal of this project is to identify the frequency of PFAS occurrence within swine sludge and biosolids to understand the risk of PFAS movement when these byproducts are applied to agricultural fields in the Cape Fear Watershed and other areas.
Poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are contaminants of emerging concern for drinking water providers nationwide. As concerns about adverse health impacts have risen for long-chain PFASs, fluorochemical manufacturers have shifted their production to short-chain PFASs. As a result the detection frequency of short-chain PFASs in drinking water sources is increasing. The overarching objective of this research is to develop effective water treatment approaches for the control of short-chain PFASs. Treatment technologies, such as activated carbon adsorption, anion exchange, and high-pressure membrane filtration will be evaluated in both surface and ground water treatment contexts. In addition, innovative sorbents and destructive processes will be explored. Data generated in this study will inform life cycle analysis and cost models and will provide guidance for drinking water providers impacted by short-chain PFASs.
Development of water purification media for perfluoroalkyl contaminants via cyclodextrin grafted graphene oxide.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are persistent organic pollutants of global concern. Over 3,000 PFASs are on the global market, but for most PFASs we lack information about their properties, environmental fate and transport, bioaccumulation in foods of plant and animal origin, and human exposure. The overarching objective of the proposed research is to develop actionable information on the fate, transport, bioaccumulation, and relative exposures of understudied PFASs in PFAS-impacted communities. Information developed in this research is expected to enable risk managers to make informed decisions and reduce uncertainties related to human PFAS exposures.
North Carolina drinking water sources are vulnerable to impacts from a unique set of emerging organic contaminants, including per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), pesticides, and pesticide degradates. The impact of these contaminants on the private well community in NC remains understudied. In this proposal, we will use the combination of ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) and mass spectrometry (MS) to extend a multidimensional database of toxicants, create a rapid analytical method suitable for organic contaminants, and apply this method to up to 50 private wells in NC.