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Thermal Treatment of PFAS-laden Materials
Citation:
Potter, P. Thermal Treatment of PFAS-laden Materials. State of Thermal Treatment of PFAS in Residuals, Cincinnati, OH, April 18, 2024.
Impact/Purpose:
ORD recognizes that there is a critical need to track the fate of PFAS in the full-scale thermal treatment of various wastestreams, including biosolids and granular activated carbon. Pilot-scale experiments can be used to investigate different components of thermal treatment systems and better understand the effects of individual operating parameters. ORD is also investigating emerging treatment technologies and assessing their efficacy compared to existing technologies. This presentation will be of interest to anyone researching destruction of PFAS, end-of-life of PFAS-laden wastestreams, or regulation of PFAS in beneficial reuse materials.
Description:
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of man-made chemicals that have been in use since the 1940s in a wide array of consumer products. PFAS are persistent in the environment and bioaccumulate. Thermal treatment methods are currently applied to a variety of materials, including sewage sludge and granular activated carbon (GAC). There is a critical need to assess the efficacy of existing and emerging thermal treatment methods to completely destroy or mineralize PFAS. Both biosolid incineration and GAC regeneration are currently utilized to treat materials that contain PFAS, but these treatment are not necessarily optimized for PFAS destruction. Results from a pilot-scale system used to perform both biosolid incineration and GAC regeneration will be presented along with a summary of current EPA research in this field.