Battelle

PFAs are used in many consumer and industrial products, like nonstick cookware and water-repellent clothing. Their incredibly strong chemical makeups mean they break down very slowly over time and are difficult to remove from the environment, earning them the nickname “forever chemicals.” And PFAs have been linked to negative health effects, including increased risk of some cancers and reduced immune strength—leading growing numbers of public health officials to view them as a fast-growing threat. Applied-sciences nonprofit Battelle has developed a method to eliminate PFAs from water. Its PFAS Annihilator removes and destroys PFAs without creating harmful by-products, by using intense pressure and heat. The Annihilator is primarily used to remove PFAs from wastewater, landfill “leachates”—water that percolates through landfill and back out into the surrounding environment—and firefighting foams. And its applications to treat other contamination scenarios, like soil, are being explored. One facility in Michigan is already Battelle’s solution to process and destroy PFAs in roughly 100,000 gallons of raw landfill leachate a day.