374Water announces publication of white paper on supercritical water oxidation

374Water announced the publication of their new white paper, “Destruction of PFAS-Laden Ion Exchange Resin using Supercritical Water Oxidation”, demonstrating the ability of its supercritical water oxidation system to destroy spent anion IX resin laden with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances “Forever Chemicals”. The paper provides an overview of the use of Ion exchange resins that are used widely across various industries due to their proven performance in removing nuisance contaminants that impact product quality and safe effluent discharge. However, once the resin is spent, effective disposal methods must be used to prevent the release of concentrated hazardous contaminants to the environment.Of particular concern is the disposal of spent anion IX resin laden with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, a group of synthetic chemicals that are known as “forever chemicals” because they do not break down in the environment and have been linked to a variety of health problems like thyroid disease, hormonal and fertility problems, high cholesterol and cancer. PFAS can be found in a variety of industries and products including firefighting foams, food packaging, cleaning products, and paints. The current status quo of landfilling or incinerating PFAS-laden spent AIX resin can lead to the leaching of PFAS into soil and groundwater systems and/or release of PFAS into the air. Recent Environmental Protection Agency regulatory requirements for drinking water and in the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act are focused on eliminating existing and emerging contaminants including PFAS. The white paper further provides a background on treating PFAS using Anion Exchange Resins and shows successful bench and commercial scale field trial results from running PFAS-laden spent AIX through 374Water’s AirSCWO system. On both the lab-scale and commercial scale, the AirSCWO system consistently achieved greater than99.9% total PFAS elimination of saturated AIX resins in a matter of seconds.