Clean freshwater is one of our most valuable natural resources, especially in the parched West. What if there were a “blue bin” that could be used to recycle industrial wastewater laden with pollutants into clean potable water? Widescale capture and treatment of wastewater so it can be reused for drinking, irrigation and industry would be a boon to municipal water supplies. New technologies hold the promise of making water recycling safe and cost-effective.

Where Innovation Flows

Innovative technologies hold the promise of permanently destroying PFAS.

The first step is testing that uses both compound-specific methods and class-based methods such as AOF and total organic fluorine (TOF). This in-depth analysis is used to design highly customized remediation strategies.

The second step is PFAS capture and concentration using new proprietary chemistries and methods that prove more efficient and effective. They can be used alone or in conjunction with existing capture systems such as ion resin and foam fractionation, paving the way for wide-scale adoption. Reducing millions of gallons of wastewater into only a few gallons of PFAS concentrate makes destruction much more manageable and affordable.

The final step is the permanent destruction of PFAS through defluorination.

Recycling water is one of the best hopes for maintaining access to reliable, safe water sources for communities nationwide. Water resilience is increasingly important since climate change is predicted to threaten water availability and water quality. New technologies that provide robust testing, capture and concentration and permanent destruction of PFAS can instill confidence that recycled wastewater can be safely used for drinking, irrigation and watershed restoration without any harm to human or environmental health.

John Brockgreitens holds a Ph.D. in Biosystems Engineering from the University of Minnesota, and his expertise includes the development and application of nanomaterials in environmental systems. John serves as a Director of Research and Development for Claros Technologies, a company providing testing, capture, and destruction technologies for PFAS, heavy metals, and mercury pollutants.

View the full article in Waste360 here:  https://www.waste360.com/pfas-pfoas/how-innovative-technologies-are-battling-pfas-water-systems