“PFAS Soil Remediation Technology Developments at 3M: Bench and Pilot Studies”
The second event of the 3M seminar series will take place on Wednesday, May 20 from 12:30–1:30 p.m. in Cohen Commons and will feature speaker Chris Haas, Manufacturing Technology Specialist.
Please register by Friday, May 15 to reserve your boxed lunch for the seminar and to receive a calendar invitation.
Hosted by the Office of Dean Schuh and Corporate Engagement. Faculty, post-docs, and students are welcome!
Abstract: Thermal treatment and phytoremediation have emerged as promising methods for the remediation of PFAS-impacted soils. While highly effective, the only current approved commercially scaled PFAS degradation approach for soil is incineration (at temperatures above 1000 °C). As a result, emerging approaches are being developed including washing and thermal treatment under milder conditions than incineration and using plants to remove PFAS from the soil followed by thermal treatment of the plant matter. While washing remains a possibility for some lightly impacted soil, soils containing higher PFAS concentrations, particularly those species that are less water soluble or those soils containing high fines content, have few options for effective treatment. This work highlights two approaches for soil remediation: 1) the thermal treatment of several soil types spiked to PFAS concentration levels ranging from < 10 μg/kg (ppb) to >100 mg/kg (ppm) by rotary kiln, a technique used for decades to clean various organic compounds such as petroleum and dioxins from soil; and 2) the use of waterborne nanoparticle carbon dots (CDs) to extract PFAS from the soil followed by plants such as pennycress, tobacco, or wheat to act as pumps and filters to remove and store CD-PFAS complexes. Both techniques have an environmental impact significantly less than standard soil incineration, and this presentation will show batch and pilot studies highlighting the efficacy of these techniques with a view towards larger scale operations.
Corporate Engagement
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