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PFAS Water Treatment Research at U.S. EPA
Citation:
Speth, T., S. Burden, J. Burkhardt, R. Khera, P. Ransom, J. Pressman, C. Patterson, P. Jordan, AND M. Nadagouda. PFAS Water Treatment Research at U.S. EPA. 2021 WATR Annual Research Coordination Meeting, Amelia, Ohio, May 18 - 19, 2021.
Impact/Purpose:
This presentation will cover the PFAS water treatment research being conducted by the USEPA's Office of Research and Development.
Description:
For the past several years, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have received a great deal of attention from the water sector and the public. During this time, EPA has conducted a great deal of research on PFAS analytics, occurrence, health effects, and treatment. This presentation will cover EPA's current research program at a high level for the treatment of PFAS in water matrices. This includes the technologies that have been widely accepted as applicable for PFAS removal: granular activated carbons (GAC), anion exchange resins (AER), and high-pressure membranes. EPA’s work has also included the evaluation of more unique technologies and the application of technologies to residual streams such as spent adsorption media or membrane concentrates. Many of EPA’s water treatment projects not only involve data generation, but also include the use and development of databases and modeling tools such as the Drinking Water Treatability Database (www.epa.gov/water-research/drinking-water-treatability-database-tdb), treatment performance models (www.epa.gov/water-research/environmental-technologies-design-option-tool-etdot), and treatment cost models (https://www.epa.gov/sdwa/drinking-water-treatment-technology-unit-cost-models). These tools are available to communities and entities that need to determine the optimal treatment choice for PFAS removal. Due to the overall paucity of PFAS treatment data, EPA has made it a priority to develop collaborations with other organizations where treatment data are shared. The data obtained from these efforts have increased the value of the databases, performance models, and cost models so that the most cost-effective treatment can be determined for a wide range of conditions such as different water qualities, system designs, operational choices, possible changing influent concentrations, and possible changing effluent goals. EPA remains open to collaborative projects that involve data sharing or where EPA’s expertise in running treatment performance and/or cost models are needed.