Presented by: Dr. Chung-Ho Lin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Forestry at the University of Missouri.

The contamination of drinking water and its sources with emerging contaminants has been a major concern for the ecosystem and public health, especially in the rural America. For example, as many as 1 in 6 Americans were drinking atrazine-contaminated water. Our team has successfully demonstrated a novel technology for removing emerging contaminants from water and drinking water sources (wells, groundwater aquifers and surface water) to protect the integrity of the ecosystems and public health. The system can be readily scalable to a continuous flow bioreactor to remove atrazine. Ultimately, the technology can be applicable to watershed restoration, environmental remediation and municipal water treatment plants. This technology also identified the novel uses of bio-based carbon materials such as biochar derived from agricultural and forest origins for environmental and industrial applications. Converting low-value materials to high value-added carbon products will help foster rural economic development.