SCWO: A Proven, Peer-Reviewed Solution for PFAS Destruction

It’s one thing to claim you’ve solved a problem. It’s another thing to prove it. Researchers at Battelle invented a solution to destroy forever chemicals—a burgeoning problem in our world—and now have another validation of its efficacy in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

In the early 2000s, researchers at Battelle and other scientific organizations (and soon the rest of the world) first became aware of the ubiquitous presence of PFAS, or per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, in our environment. In the intervening years, the public has become more aware of this large class of chemicals present in our water, air, ground and bodies. Battelle invented many new technologies and solutions to help address the challenge, including the PFAS Annihilator^®, and spun out a new company called Revive Environmental to scale and deploy the technology in the field.

Thousands of these useful but potentially harmful chemicals enhance performance of consumer products by making them durable and impermeable to water and oil. PFAS exposure over a long period of time can potentially result in adverse health impacts. Major sources of PFAS contamination include fluorinated aqueous film-forming foams (AFFF) that extinguish fuel fires, industrial wastewater, and water that comes from landfills (called leachate).  

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, there are more than 120,000 U.S. locations where people may have been exposed to PFAS. Millions of gallons of AFFF are stored at fire stations, airports and military bases around the country. Current regulations require the U.S. Department of Defense installations to phase out PFAS-laden AFFF and remove the firefighting foam from their hangers, leaving the Department with millions of gallons of AFFF stockpiled and awaiting destruction. 

Don’t Just Move PFAS; Destroy It.

There are several approaches to getting rid of PFAS, but after years of study and consideration, Battelle scientists determined the best approach was supercritical water oxidation or SCWO. Presently, even the EPA acknowledges that we cannot verify complete destruction through incineration and does not have active emissions monitoring for this supposed destruction method. Fortunately, more responsible, verifiable, and proven methods now exist thanks to Battelle's research.   

That’s a strong claim, but Battelle scientists have published a peer-reviewed journal article the American Chemical Society’s ACS Environmental Science and Technology Water Journal that demonstrates the SCWO technology in the PFAS Annihilator^® is doing exactly what it purports to do. The paper, “Field Demonstration of PFAS Destruction in Various Alcohol-Resistant AFFFs Using Supercritical Water Oxidation,” was written by Battelle chemical engineers Stephen Rosansky, Samer Al-Dirani and Christopher Scheitlin, chemists Kavitha Dasu, Xiaoyan Xia, Cameron Orth, Martha McCauley and Larry Mullins, and Mechanical Engineer Michael Dzurnak.  

State programs to destroy AFFF have already begun in Ohio and New Hampshire, allowing the Battelle team to test in the field. “This publication supports the successful launching of Annihilator for PFAS destruction in AFFF takeback programs,” said Dasu, one of the lead authors of the paper and a world-renowned expert on PFAS. “There are many types of AFFFs with different chemistries—and we’ve shown that the PFAS Annihilator can completely destroy all AFFF formulations manufactured by different vendors. The SCWO technology represented in the Annihilator is validated and working verifiably.”

Proven and Validated Technology

In the current study, PFAS Annihilator^® destroyed AFFF formulations with PFAS concentrations as high as 16 percent during testing. “A comparison between dilutions showed complete destruction for all dilutions,” said Dasu. “The economic efficiency of SCWO is demonstrated to be dependent on the volume of fluid processed, not upon the PFAS concentration or formulation chemistries. This means the technology would be even more economical for highly concentrated streams.”

SCWO combines pressure and temperature to break down these “forever chemicals.” Since this is a chemical process, it can account for each molecule through destruction. This allows Battelle to conduct a mass balance analysis to validate the complete destruction of the PFAS and destroy PFAS that were previously unidentified since they were not measurable. A fluorine mass balance yielded 40% excess fluorine in the effluent compared to the influent, indicating lot of unquantifiable non-target PFAS precursors in the AFFF formulations. The PFAS Annihilator completely mineralized all PFAS, resulting in the production of inorganic fluorine. “This means the target PFAS measured by EPA Method 1633 are destroyed,” said Dasu. “And even the PFAS that wasn’t measured by 1633 are also being destroyed,” Dasu said.

This is the second paper published by Battelle on PFAS SCWO destruction using Annihilator in this journal. The first was foundational work based on PFAS Annihilator bench scale data, called “Application of Supercritical Water Oxidation to Effectively Destroy Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Aqueous Matrices.”

Next-generation ongoing research will expand SCWO’s ability to process solids.

Contact Battelle today to learn more about our proven PFAS technology.