Thermal Destruction of PFAS by Hydrodynamic Cavitation
Abstract
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) contamination of groundwater is pernicious and widespread, potentially contaminating the drinking water of millions of Americans. A major source of this contamination is aqueous film forming foam which was used for decades for firefighting and is still in use today . The Department of Defense has identified hundreds of military sites where water has been contaminated by PFAS and a full DoD clean-up effort is expected to cost billions of dollars. Existing options to destroy PFAS are limited and expensive. We have demonstrated a novel technique for thermal destruction of PFAS. The low-cost process uses hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) to thermally destroy PFAS in water. We optimized flow parameters using methylene blue dye to measure oxidation rates across a wide range of conditions. We then demonstrated destruction of perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) by HC in a series of tests that show the effects of reactor design and operating conditions. We measured the rates of PFOS destruction as well as concentration of reaction products as a function of time after starting the process. We found that HC was a robust process that effectively destroyed PFAS across the range of conditions tested.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2023
- Accession Number
- AD1216385
Entities
People
- Anthony Bednar
- Gabrielle David
- Michael Izenson
- Rachel Gilmore
Organizations
- Creare, Inc.
- Engineer Research and Development Center