PFOS/PFOA
The issue of PFOA/PFOS reflects the long standing issues of needed functionality for key use cases such as firefighting foams to immediately put industrial and related fires out quickly. Unfortunately, the result is not after the fire is out, also safe for the environment, specifically the runoff water and residue in the soil.
The purpose of the PFOS family of compounds was their long lasting heat stable nature. That came with biodegradable stable nature also, which has been shown to have health effects as our bodies cannot break it down.
That ease of cooking with Teflon came with a price; our bodies store the material. It requires temperatures over 1,800 degrees to destroy these compounds, and in a special chamber that is non reactive to the resulting breakdown elements. ThermGen® is designed to reach these temperatures and can do so in a chamber specially designed for this waste profile.
The ongoing efforts to clean up residual PFOS is a challenge ThermGen® can be a key component of, and efforts are being made to establish a treatment facility with the required material handling pretreatments to concentrate the targeted PFOS as required.
This is a custom designed process that is needed in certain areas of water treatment where high PFOS accumulation.
EPA warnings on toxic PFAS raise questions on drinking water safety (usatoday.com)
