Combined In-Situ / Ex-Situ Remediation of PFAS at Hazardous Waste Sites

Poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in soil and groundwater are currently remediated by extracting the contaminated groundwater for ex-situ treatment via adsorption onto granular activated carbon (GAC) or other sorbents which only transfers contaminants to another media that still needs to be treated. This is a very long- term and expensive process because 1) it takes decades for the sorbed PFAS on soil to be extracted via groundwater pump and treat (Pandamp;T), and 2) the carbon must be changed frequently and 3) treatment (by high temperature regeneration or incineration) is costly. Recently, Higgins (Higgins, Chris, 2016 “Treatment and Mitigation Strategies for Poly and Perfluoroalkyl Substances”, Report #4322, Water Research Foundation, Denver, CO) showed that low molecular weight PFAS breakthrough GAC faster than other compounds. In addition, Pandamp;T technology may never achieve EPA Health Advisory concentrations in the aquifer. PFAS are fluorinated anthropogenic pollutants that the USEPA and global health organizations have identified as toxic, persistent, bioaccumulative and highly recalcitrant, being resistant to hydrolysis, photolysis, and biodegradation. PFAS were used in many products, including aqueous film-forming foams to combat chemical fires at military and civilian fire training areas where they are a common source of PFAS to the environment. They have been identified in surface waters and they persist in groundwater years after use, contaminating and threatening drinking water supplies. As of 2014, the U.S. Department of Defense alone has identified 664 fire/crash/training sites alone that potentially have PFAS contamination. Thus, there is a critical need for a more cost-effective and in-situ remediation approach for remediating PFAS contaminated sites that will only increase in the coming years. Our team will further develop and demonstrate an innovative combined in-situ/ex-situ technology to cost-effectively expedite treatment of PFAS at Superfund sites. The proposed proprietary treatment train combines 1) a non-toxic cyclic sugar (CS) to flush sorbed PFAS from the in-situ soil, 2) extraction of the CS- PFAS complex with groundwater and treatment in a high efficiency 99+% removal to 70 ppt (parts-per-trillion) ex-situ reactor that removes the PFAS from the extracted groundwater using a process to enhance foam formation that separates and concentrates the PFAS into a separate reactor where it is destroyed in the concentrate to 70 ppt total PFAS. The treated water with a low concentration of CS amendment is re-injected into the subsurface for continued aquifer flushing. In Phase I, it was shown that: 1) PFAS can be effectively flushed from highly PFAS contaminated soils with a relatively small flushing volume, and 2) the PFAS can be effectively separated from the extracted groundwater and destroyed in the concentrate. Bench scale tests will be used to evaluate those parameters needed to optimize site-specific PFAS desorption from soil, separation of the extracted CS-PFAS complex, and ultimate destruction of the PFAS concentrate in the ex-situ reactor. A site-specific field pilot test to demonstrate PFAS treatment by the process will be performed in Phase II. 1This Project will further develop and demonstrate an innovative combined in-situ/ex-situ remedial technology for treatment of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in contaminated soil and groundwater at Superfund sites. There is a pronounced need for a cost effective and efficient in-situ treatment process to expedite achievement of the EPA Health Advisory concentrations in groundwater supplies, because current ex-situ pump and treat technology is long-term (decades), costly and may never achieve the low regulatory concentrations in the aquifer due slow desorption of the PFAS from soil. Based on a successful Phase I SBIR study, a site-specific field pilot test of the proprietary process to demonstrate PFAS treatment to the regulatory limit of 70 ppt will be performed in the Phase II study. 1