Formatted Title
What a Waste! The Role and Environmental Impact of Innovative PFAS Treatment Technologies for Managing PFAS Waste from Water Treatment Systems
Background/Objectives
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have multiple pathways into waste streams, presenting challenges for treatment and ultimate disposal across industries. As PFAS destruction technologies continue to develop and become more commercially available, concentrating and minimizing the overall volume of PFAS waste will become even more important as various states have begun regulating waste containing PFAS under state environmental laws. Reducing overall volume of PFAS waste from treatment systems can reduce overall costs of treatment, liability, and environmental impact. This presentation will provide an evaluation of current conventional and innovative PFAS treatment options, such as foam fractionation, that can ultimately reduce overall waste volumes of PFAS with a focus on their environmental impact from a green remediation perspective. Foam fractionation is a separation technology that uses micron-sized gas (air or ozone) bubbles to remove PFAS from water. Individual PFAS chemical characteristics including: perfluorinated or polyfluorinated alkyl substance, fluorinated tail length (short-or-long), and head group, have significant bearing on selecting an ideal treatment technology. Wastewater containing high concentrations of PFAS are generated from landfills, firefighting foam release areas and a range of industrial processes are difficult to treat but are under increasingly stringent discharge requirements to minimize the impact on downstream municipal wastewater treatment works (WWTW) and the environment. Increased PFAS remediation and decontamination activities are also generating complex waste streams (from reverse osmosis [RO] rejectate, ion exchange resin [IER] regenerant, foam system cleanout reagents) that require treatment.
Approach/Activities
This presentation will review multiple treatment technologies, including foam fractionation, and provide data from multiple field trials where various technologies were used to address landfill leachate, AFFF-impacted groundwater, and industrial wastewater RO reject. One such case study includes the DSC McLouth Steel Gibraltar Plant Superfund Site Countywide Landfill (CWLF) Operable Unit in Gibraltar, Michigan where several technologies were evaluated for PFAS treatment. This presentation will evaluate several innovative treatment approaches while recognizing that the best-match site-specific treatment often requires combining conventional treatment technologies with more innovative and emerging solutions for successful PFAS treatment and overall waste management. PFAS treatment technologies are also evaluated using the USEPA greener cleanup metrics for the materials, waste, water, and energy used for each technology.
Results/Lessons Learned
Case studies will show that foam fractionation is an effective PFAS treatment technology demonstrated to reduce PFAS like PFOS and PFOA by >99% in landfill leachates and other complex wastewaters. It can also significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions compared to traditional pump and haul operations at the CWLF Superfund site. Work to further concentrate separated foam fractionate and reduce waste volumes will also be described. Results using ozone in the foam fractionation process also provide additional benefits and cost savings by addressing co-contaminants such as metals, BOD and COD, ammonia, odors and colors without extra system components. The presentation provides insight into important technology developments for PFAS treatment of complex wastewater to reduce reliance on incineration and is of importance to all environmental practitioners and PFAS waste holders.