Overseas Training > 2009 > Lalantha Senevirathna
Lalantha Senevirathna
Survey of PFCs in Taiwan and presentation at 3rd IWA-ASPIRE conference in Taipei
Research Center for Environmental Quality Management, Department of Urban Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering
Place of stay: Taiwan National University, Taiwan
Term: October 17 - October 28, 2009
The objectives of my internship were to present my research findings at IWA-ASPIRE conference held in Taiwan and to do a survey on environmental and tap water samples from Taipei and Tainan of Taiwan for perfluorinated compounds (PFCs). These anthropogenic chemical compounds are mainly produced by industrial activities and discharged into the environment because they are not removed by conventional treatment techniques. We have identified several candidate granular resins, which showed excellent performances as adsorbents to eliminate PFCs in water. I used this opportunity to explain our findings to top-class water professionals at IWA-ASPIRE conference. At the same time, I participated in more than 50 presentations on latest water research. After the conference, I stayed behind in Taiwan for six days to collect some water samples in southwestern Taiwan (Tainan) and Taipei. Collected water samples were pretreated at National Taiwan University and brought to Kyoto University for further analysis. During the internship, I had a chance to visit Zhitan Purification Plant and Feitsui Reservoir, which are some of the biggest water treatment plants in the world at present.
