Marton Peintler Krivan is the manufacturing lead at Aquafer Technologies, which is focused on scaling breakthrough water treatment materials from pilot to commercialization through rapid manufacturing systems. A 2025 graduate from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in industrial engineering, Marton brings over 4 years of experience across high-volume and high-mix manufacturing environments. He founded an engineering consulting firm that serves 7 companies across East Tennessee by delivering improvements in automation, operations, and production control. Marton is in pursuit of solving hard problems, lifelong growth, and a vision of the world in which clean water is accessible to all. Away from the lab, you’ll find him mountain biking, skiing, scuba diving, or golfing.
Represented Organization
Aquafer Technologies
Key Innovation
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which are so-called forever chemicals known more commonly as PFAS, are highly persistent synthetic compounds that contaminate drinking water and accumulate in the body. PFAS have been linked to cancer, immune suppression, and developmental disorders. As regulations tighten worldwide, water utilities and other responsible parties are facing major compliance risks. However, today’s treatment options are limited: the industry standard granular activated carbon often has low capacity and selectivity, but newer technologies can require costly infrastructure upgrades. Aquafer Technologies has developed a patent-pending adsorbent media that removes PFAS at scale and is drop-in compatible with existing municipal vessels and residential systems, which avoids retrofit costs. The media provides broad-spectrum protection across more than 1,000 PFAS variants and precursors and lasts 8 times longer and costs approximately 50% less than granular activated carbon.
The technology has been validated in real-world conditions, including an 18-month airport pilot treating highly contaminated waters without performance loss. It is supported by a worldwide exclusive license and National Science Foundation certification for drinking water applications. Aquafer’s initial commercialization focus is packaged media for water utilities, with additional deployments at federal sites and airports, where remediation funding is substantial. Current work involves scaling manufacturing, expanding independent performance testing, and executing five paid pilots scheduled in 2026. By combining drop-in compatibility with high performance and low life cycle cost, Aquafer aims to make PFAS compliance achievable for utilities and accelerate access to safe drinking water.
ORNL Principal Investigator
- Michelle Kidder - Distinguished R&D Staff Member, Chemical Process Scale Up, Manufacturing Science Division, Energy Science and Technology Directorate