Read the full article by Arlene Karidis (Waste 360)

“A PFAS remediation technology with Australian origins, proven to remove more than 99% of long-chain, and most short-chain PFAS compounds from water and soil, has come to North America.

Invented by OPOC Systems, Surface Active Foam Fractionation (SAFF) units will be manufactured and commissioned by its U.S. subsidiary, EPOC Enviro, while Boston, MA-based biotech company Allonnia will be the exclusive sales and marketing partner in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

SAFF separates PFAS from water or soil and concentrates it without the use of chemicals or adsorption media that leave behind residue. And it requires less energy than most other remediation techniques, according to Allonnia and EPOC.

The concept of the technology, which relies on PFAS’s natural makeup, was conceived with the knowledge that these compounds tend to reside at air-water interfaces.

At high level, it’s a foam fractionation technique that uses bubbles that rise through water columns. PFAS attaches to the bubbles, which foam at the top of the column, and are collected and concentrated.

The modular containerized units, designed for onsite deployment in a plug-and-play configuration, work with landfill leachate, groundwater, surface water, and wastewater. With those capabilities, the target markets are landfills, airports, military bases, water treatment plants, and industrial complexes.

The containerized approach means that the units can be readily transported via container ship, ready for installation with no further manufacturing required, says Peter Murphy, president of EPOC Enviro.

‘Plug and play was also an important design consideration as we know that remediators need the SAFF technology to get to work quickly.  And the modular design component enables us to scale up or down at each site,’ he says.

Allonnia has focused for a couple of years on remediation of emerging contaminants, with PFAS, specifically, it’s concentrated on binding organisms to detect PFAS and biodegrading them. 

But being able to separate PFAS is key, says Mack Astorga, vice president of Allonnia. ‘You need to separate PFAS from groundwater or soil before deploying a destruction solution in order to be cost effective and efficient, especially when aiming for extremely low cleanup targets set by many states. So, we were looking for technologies to achieve this, and we came across SAFF.'” …