As a Pentagon task force works to come up with a plan to
address cancer-linked chemicals in ground water on its bases, a group of
civilian researchers is exploring a high-tech solution.
The Enhanced Contact Plasma Reactor made its debut in
September at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, according to a Tuesday
release from the Air Force, in a field demonstration of its ability to break
down per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance.
“We are trying to
destroy or degrade PFAS impacted groundwater using electrical discharge
plasma,” principal investigator Selma Mededovic, of Clarkson University, said
in the release.
The idea is that argon gas from the reactor concentrates
perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoic acid, known as PFOS and PFOA,
generating plasma at the surface. The plasma then breaks down the PFAS
molecules.
"This is the only technology that actually destroys
PFAS molecules that has been demonstrated at this scale, it doesn’t just remove
them from water,” co-principal investigator Tom Holsen said in the release.
“All of the other demonstrations that we’re aware of remove it from the water
through filtration so there is still a PFAS-containing waste. Our method
actually destroys PFAS.”
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