(321e) Advancements in PFAS Separation and Concentration By Artisan Industriespresented By: Michael Fedorenko

Due to the physical nature of PFAS they are highly soluble and migrate easily in water resulting in a large amount of PFAS contaminated water that needs to be treated. With over 4,000 types of known PFAS, the chemistry constantly changing as new compounds are made, and the physical and chemical properties being largely unknown the remediation problem is difficult. Treatment levels for PFAS are extremely low, typically in the parts per trillion range requiring expensive activated carbon and/or ion exchange adsorbent treatment systems. PFAS remediation presents a significant challenge for low-income communities, especially as these treatment options become more expensive due to the cost of adsorbents and disposal increasing. Adsorbent remediation methods also generate a contaminated stream that needs to be dealt with. Historically, PFAS waste has been incinerated in the last decade and has further exacerbated the problem by not destroying the contaminants.

As manufacturers begin to phase out production of PFAS, due to their stability they will last in the environment for a long time and will continue to present remediation challenges. Technologies are being developed to destroy PFAS by breaking down the carbon fluorine (C-F) bond that makes them so stable. These technologies vary from supercritical H₂O or CO₂, advanced oxidation, plasma, catalyst, and others. The challenge for most of these techniques is equipment processing capacity. The flow rates needed by wastewater treatment plants and remediation sites are far greater than the highest capacity any destruction technology can achieve. Either the technologies need to be scaled up or the flow rates to the equipment need to be reduced.

Artisans has identified PFAS contaminants as a significant environmental problem lacking cost-effective treatment options and a final destruction solution to the forever chemicals. Artisan has been working for the last 3 years to develop a solution to remove all PFAS from aqueous sources. Then to find a way to incorporate PFAS destruction technologies into a continuous remediation train. Artisan believes that concentrating the PFAS stream is an effective solution to dealing with the high volumes of waste and will bridge the capacity gap for utilizing destruction techniques.

Artisan’s presentation will cover:
1. Pilot Testing and Commercial Success – Demonstrate the effectiveness of the Artisan Rototherm®, a horizontal thin film evaporator that concentrates PFAS wastewater to a free-flowing powder and discharges clean water.
2. Recent Developments – Discuss Artisan process intensification via R&D and pilot trials on foam fractionation for PFAS concentration.
3. Future Work – Artisan Industries PFAS Destruction Train.

Artisan Industries is a technology and manufacturing company established and operated in Massachusetts, USA since 1934. Founded by MIT graduates, for over 90 years Artisan Associates have been at the forefront of solving difficult engineering challenges and manufacturing the solutions. Chemical engineers at Artisan rely on using proprietary process equipment, traditional unit operations, and developing new technologies to solve the problems at hand. Using Artisan’s state-of-the-art pilot plant each process is tested and validated, data is generated for scale up design, and commercial systems are developed and built for professionals in many industries.

The presentation is given by Michael Fedorenko, Sr. Process Chemical Engineer at Artisan Industries. Michael has spent the last 10 years working on PFAS research, sampling, and commercial remediation. He received his B.S and M.S in chemical engineering at the University of Rhode Island College of Engineering. As a undergraduate and graduate student from 2014 – 2019 he researched PFAS physicochemical properties and worked as part of the STEEP group (Sources, Transport, Effects and Exposure of PFAS). He published an article titled: Dominant entropic binding of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) to albumin protein revealed by 19F NMR. After completing his M.S in 2019, he worked for a year and a half for Oneida ESG Group, in California on various PFAS environmental investigations and remediation projects at various military facilities. In 2021, Michael began working at Artisan Industries and has spent the last 3 years working on various R&D and commercial projects focused on PFAS remediation.