Evaluating non-thermal plasma technology for degrading perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl surfactants (PFAS) in wastewater

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Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and their related perfluoroalkyl andpolyfluoroalkyl surfactants (PFASs) have been found in many federal and private facilities from the use of andrelease of aqueous film-forming foams (AFFFs). Driven by the new regulations on PFOS and PFOA, there is agreat need for developing cost-effective and efficient treatment technologies for removing these persistent andtoxic chemicals from wastewaters. As PFOS and PFOA are highly stable and resistant to microbial or chemicalattacks, conventional advanced oxidation or sorption-based processes are either not effective or are very costprohibitive. Golder Associates is planning to offer a novel non-thermal plasma technology to its clients infuture projects for PFAS wastewater treatment. Although non-thermal plasma has been reported as the mosteffective process to break down PFAS completely, few measurement and validation tests have been conductedto determine pollutant degradation efficiencies and degradation end-products. Therefore, a new collaborativepartnership between Golder and the applicant (Prof. J. Liu) at McGill University, who is an expert onmeasurement, treatment and environmental fate evaluation of PFAS, to address the issues. The goal of the newpartnership is to assess the technical and economic feasibility of the technology. This project will also generatenew knowledge on PFAS degradation mechanisms in non-thermal plasma processes. The industrial partner canuse the knowledge to support scale-up of the technology and to expand its client base. The project will benefitCanada's economy and the environment by reducing the cost of dealing with PFAS contamination.