EPOC Enviro’s Hyper-Concentrator makes US debut in PFAS treatment

63
The SAFF® systems are remediating PFAS from a variety of water sources including landfill leachate, industrial wastewaters, fire-impacted waters and more. Additional images available via request. Image supplied.

Australian firm EPOC Enviro has installed four advanced SAFF PFAS remediation systems at a major trade waste facility in Grand Rapids, Michigan, enabling the treatment of up to 1.1 million litres of contaminated water daily.

The state-of-the-art installation includes three SAFF40 systems and a newly introduced SAFF Hyper-Concentrator, arranged in a quadruple stack.

These systems work together to isolate and concentrate PFAS from severely polluted waters sourced from across the US, EPOC said in a news release. 

The operation, managed by waste solutions leader Crystal Clean, spans 2,000 square meters and includes infrastructure capable of storing more than 750,000 litres of incoming water. Water arrives by rail or truck and is transferred into tanks for processing.

“The SAFF® Hyper-Concentrator, which forms a critical part of the facility, is EPOC Enviro’s latest technology offering, and this is the first time it has been deployed in the USA,” said EPOC Enviro Managing Director, Peter Murphy.

The SAFF systems are capable of concentrating PFAS compounds by up to 20,000 times, reducing 20,000 litres of water to just one litre of PFAS concentrate. 

The Hyper-Concentrator enhances this process further, amplifying concentration levels by an additional 20 to 200 times, producing micro-volumes of concentrated PFAS foam for final disposal.

The Grand Rapids facility receives PFAS-contaminated water from various sources, including industrial waste, landfill runoff, and firefighting water.

“Our 4never™ solution is designed for high-volume, high-impact PFAS remediation, and we have construction plans to add PFAS treatment capabilities to several of our other commercial waste treatment facilities,” said Crystal Clean President and CEO Brian Recatto.

EPOC Enviro said its SAFF echnology has been implemented across three continents, remediating over 1.1 billion litres of PFAS-contaminated water globally. 

The patented Surface Active Foam Fractionation (SAFF) process uses air bubbles to isolate and concentrate PFAS compounds, enabling large-scale water treatment with minimal energy consumption.