WYOMING, Mich. — PFAS toxins have plagued communities in West Michigan for years, as the substances have seeped from waste into local water supplies.
These substances, often referred to as "forever chemicals" given their resistance to degradation or breaking down, are now meeting their end as Battelle's first operational PFAS Annihilator has been rolled out in Wyoming by Revive Environmental and Heritage Crystal Clean.
While a limited number of methods aimed at breaking down or destroy PFAS already exist, such as incineration, those behind the device say its a first to use a unique blend of extreme heat and pressure to effectively eliminate the toxins.
"This is a first of its type in North America that has an end-to-end solution to not only concentrate [PFAS] but destroy it also," Heritage Crystal Clean special projects employee Jim Rosendall said.
It starts with PFAS materials delivered by truck from contaminated reservoirs. Air bubbles are then used in large tanks to grab and separate the PFAS into a hyper concentrate.
"One tote of material, it took 2.7 million gallons to get that one tote," Rosendall said.
Then, it's on to the PFAS Annihilator — a large shipping container-like structure linked to exterior technology that pressurizes and heats the PFAS within itself.
"The temperatures are around 500 degrees Celsius," Revive Environmental President and CEO David Trueba said. "Water boils at 100. That's high. 3,200 psi. Your car tires are around 40. Really high pressure."
"We've effectively annihilated any organic molecule, PFAS or no, in the material in addition to treated other contaminants," Trueba said.
The resulting salt water, Trueba said, can even be used in the home after going through the municipal water treatment facility.
Through extreme heat and pressure, forever may not be as long for many in West Michigan and across the country plagued by PFAS.
"There's been this, 'PFAS is bad, there's a challenge, and we're not quite sure as a society what to do,'" Trueba said. "This technology where we're standing in right now is proof that there's hope to a challenge that has been forever and no more."
Experts at Michigan State University made mention of Battelle's tactics as a promising sign when they analyzed PFAS contamination last year, but estimated at the time that scaling up could be a challenge. But with a half dozen more PFAS Annihilators on the way, Trueba said they're gearing up to handle larger loads.
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