Jordan Poler featured in Business North Carolina
Jordan Poler, Ph.D., professor of chemistry in the Klein College of Science, was featured in Business North Carolina’s article “NC Trend: Chemistry prof’s startup attacks a complex global challenge.”
Poler is advancing a new approach to removing toxic forever chemicals and other contaminants from drinking water, a challenge that affects millions of North Carolinians. After early work on carbon‑related contamination during the Flint water crisis, Poler shifted his research focus when PFAs such as GenX were discovered in the Cape Fear River in 2017.
Poler launched nanXPure, a startup he co-founded with longtime water industry executive Dana Hicks. Supported by nearly $1 million in grants from the National Science Foundation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and NCInnovation, the company uses zeolite‑based materials that attract and trap negatively charged PFAs within seconds, offering a regenerable, nontoxic filtration method.
“Our goal is to disrupt the point-of-use drinking water industry with our regenerable and reusable media and devices,” Poler said.
nanXPure is currently scaling production with Goulston Technologies in Monroe, North Carolina, and preparing for pilot manufacturing, with initial plans to market a refrigerator‑compatible household filter and future ambitions to serve municipal water systems.
“It was quite an awakening for me to learn how much I didn’t know. Faculty are used to being the experts in the room. But when you’re talking with water treatment operators and technicians, you’re climbing a steep learning curve,” said Poler. “Great ideas are easy. Solving real problems for real people is what makes a business viable. And you can’t do it alone.”