Pre-treatment of High-Strength PFAS-Contaminated Water to Increase Treatment Efficiency and Reduce Costs

PerfluorAd™ is a biodegradable flocculant developed in Germany that has shown promise for removing per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) from highly concentrated or complex wastewater sources either as a pre-treatment for granular activated carbon and anion exchange resins, or in some cases as a stand-alone treatment. In this study we evaluated the performance of PerfluorAd removing PFAS from a dilute solution of aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF), a highly contaminated groundwater, and landfill leachate. For perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), removals were >90% for all cases except PFOA in landfill leachate. In contrast, resin showed no removal of PFAS for dilute AFFF, presumably due to competitive inhibition or other interferences. This study confirmed the potential for PerfluorAd™ to increase PFAS treatment efficiency, and decrease both media and waste disposal costs.