New Jersey Institute of Technology and BioLargo Inc. announced that the California-based environmental technology company has joined the New Jersey PFAS Partnership Innovation Consortium, an NJIT-led initiative working to accelerate the development, validation and deployment of solutions addressing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS.
BioLargo will contribute its experience developing and commercializing technologies for PFAS detection and treatment, advanced water and wastewater treatment and other environmental challenges. Tonya Chandler, President of BioLargo Equipment, Solutions & Technologies Inc., will also join the NJ PFAS-PIC board of directors.
“We are excited to welcome BioLargo to NJ PFAS-PIC and to add its commercial technology experience to this growing partnership,” said Atam P. Dhawan, NJIT’s chief strategic innovation officer and senior vice provost for research, and executive director of NJ PFAS-PIC. “Its expertise will strengthen our ability to evaluate promising PFAS solutions, validate them under real-world conditions and advance them toward broader adoption by utilities, industries and communities for greater impact.”
BioLargo Equipment, Solutions & Technologies, a wholly owned subsidiary of BioLargo, develops water-treatment systems and provides engineering and system-integration services. Its PFAS portfolio includes testing services and the Aqueous Electrostatic Concentrator, or AEC, which uses an electrostatic field and a proprietary membrane system to separate and concentrate PFAS from contaminated water.
"I'm honored to join the NJ PFAS-PIC board of directors and help guide a consortium doing such critical work on PFAS research, remediation, and innovation.” Chandler states, “PFAS remediation moves fastest when research, industry, and regulators are working from the same table. Throughout my career I've focused on closing the gap between what the regulations require and what available technology can actually deliver. This becomes so important as we look forward to the future of treating PFAS compounds, especially the short and ultra-short compounds that so many existing treatment methods struggle to address. I look forward to bringing a new perspective, along with what we've learned deploying AEC in the field here in New Jersey, to support the consortium's mission."
Developed by NJIT beginning in 2024 and formally launched in April 2026, NJ PFAS-PIC brings together universities, companies, government agencies, utilities and nonprofit and community organizations. The consortium is administered by NJIT and is structured as an industry-university-government-community ecosystem focused on advancing PFAS technologies from early research through application testing, regulatory validation, scaling, commercialization and community adoption.
Its work encompasses PFAS detection and monitoring, remediation, treatment, destruction and management, as well as the development of alternative materials that could reduce or prevent PFAS contamination in consumer and industrial products.
The consortium’s strategy is organized around three central priorities: accelerating emerging technologies from “ideation to impact”; collecting, quantifying and sharing cross-disciplinary PFAS data, including through the use of artificial intelligence; and connecting scientific and technological innovation with community advocacy and the development of effective policies and regulations.
NJ PFAS-PIC members can collaborate through a multi-track Translational Research Partnership Grant Program. The program is designed to support joint proposals for government and private-sector funding, projects initiated by consortium members to address specific technology or community needs, and competitive early-stage research focused on validating emerging PFAS innovations.
Potential projects may include technology testing and demonstration, field and community validation, data collection and analysis, regulatory compliance studies, workforce development, public education and the scaling of technologies toward licensing or commercialization. The consortium also plans workshops, technology showcases, internships and PFAS-focused education and training programs.
BioLargo joins a multidisciplinary group whose members include New Jersey Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Rutgers University, Stevens Institute of Technology, environmental and engineering companies, water utilities, state agencies and community-focused organizations.
“BioLargo’s participation illustrates the type of collaboration NJ PFAS-PIC was created to support,” Dhawan said. “By combining university research with industrial capabilities, regulatory knowledge, utility experience and community priorities, we can create a stronger pathway for moving effective technologies out of laboratories and into practical use.”
