SBIR Phase II: A Cost-Effective Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance (PFAS) Electrolyzer for Groundwater Remediation

The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to provide a safe, cost-effective water treatment system that eliminates per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from groundwater to protect human health and the environment while reducing the cost and complexity of remediation. PFAS are one of the world’s most intractable pollutants and have contaminated groundwater and drinking water sources across the US and the world. The toxicity, mobility, and bioaccumulation of PFAS present a need for remediation as they cause an array of adverse impacts on human health. In the US, impending drinking water regulations and listing of PFAS as hazardous substances under Superfund are setting the enforcement foundation for aggressive cleanup of PFAS-contaminated sites. Current PFAS treatment options are non-destructive, expensive, and simply transfer the PFAS to a solid or concentrated waste stream. This project focuses on the development of a low cost, chemical-free water treatment system that directly mineralizes PFAS to safe end-products with no secondary PFAS waste generation. It addresses customers’ need to achieve environmental compliance, reduce remediation cost, accelerate site closeout, and prevent future environmental pollution and liability. This project is technically focused on the electrolytic destruction of PFAS. The core technology consists of a novel radial-field flow unit cell architecture with an array of these unit cells stacked into an Electrolyzer. Contaminants are destroyed as the groundwater passes through the Electrolyzer anode compartments. Key innovations of this treatment system include the scalability of the unit cells to very large area electrodes resulting in large-scale Electrolyzer stacks that handle continuous water flow, and most importantly the development of a low-cost, anode electrocatalyst that provides high voltage, single-step mineralization of PFAS, including the long chains and hard to treat short-chains, to safe end-products. The objectives of this project are: (1) Scale up the anode electrocatalyst coating process for large area 3D electrodes and make full-scale, low cost anodes; (2) Design and build an Electrolyzer Stack composed of an array of repeating, scaled-up unit cells; (3) Construct a groundwater treatment skid with the Electrolyzer Stack and perform on-site groundwater PFAS remediation treatability testing; (4) Verify the PFAS destruction efficiency and low cost of the Electrolyzer Stack water treatment system. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.