EPOC Enviro’s SAFF technology undertaking important PFAS remediation work at Shoalhaven, (NSW) Australia.
EPOC Enviro, an Australian manufacturer of award winning PFAS remediation technology, says the solution to Sydney’s PFAS water contamination is being made right here in Western Sydney.
EPOC Enviro’s SAFF® (Surface Active Foam Fractionation) technology is manufactured at Emu Plains. The technology has now successfully remediated more than 1 billion litres of PFAS impacted waters at over 30 sites globally, including at PFAS ground zero locations in Minnesota (USA), and at Shoalhaven and Oakey in Australia.
SAFF® has been used to successfully remediate criteria PFAS contaminants from drinking water, as well as landfill leachate waters, ground and surface waters, industrial waste waters and Reverse Osmosis (RO) reject waters.
Monitoring results released by Sydney Water during June 2024 indicates the presence of PFAS in some of Western Sydney’s water filtration plants including at Blackheath, Katoomba, North Richmond and Orchard Hills.
The contaminants were detected at levels that would be considered unsafe in the USA.
PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of chemicals that have been used in a wide range of consumer and industrial products. Research indicates they have become pervasive in the environment and pose a health risk when accumulated in the body.
The technology uses the power of the rising air bubble to sustainably separate and then concentrate target PFAS contaminants from source waters, and since launching back in 2018, the technology has evolved to capture long chain PFAS contaminants as well as a high percentage of the more elusive short chain compounds.
“Our technology has seen excellent traction overseas, particularly in the USA, where we are able to exceed the recently released US EPA guidelines which set far more stringent remediation levels for target PFAS contaminants than we have here in Australia,” said EPOC Enviro Managing Director, Pete Murphy.
“While we are not so well known in our own backyard, we are keen to change this, as the technology is established, proven and ready to go. We can certainly meet the Australian guidelines and we can significantly improve on them,” he said.
SAFF® technology is currently remediating target PFAS contaminants from landfill leachate waters at the West Nowra Recycling and Waste facility and forms a cornerstone of Shoalhaven Council’s innovative recycling and circular economy programs.
“With any new technology there’s an element of risk, but we did our homework, we looked at what’s out there in the marketplace and we identified the benefits of the SAFF® system over others. While we’re only a short while into this project, we’re already amazed at the output,” said Shoalhaven City Council’s Waste Operations Coordinator, Peter Windley.
SAFF® technology is scalable, which means that it can be built to provide high efficiency PFAS remediation at very high volumes.
In drinking water applications, SAFF® can be utilised as a standalone technology, or it can be partnered with other treatment technologies like reverse osmosis, nano filtration, granular activated carbon or ion exchange resins to optimise treatment outcomes.
The ITRC, which is Americas pre-eminent environmental coalition, recently rated foam fractionation as a technology readiness level of ‘nine’, which is the highest level within the scale. From a US government perspective, this demonstrates that foam fractionation technology is field proven.
Video interview with Peter Windley, Waste Operations Coordinator, Shoalhaven City Council: https://epocenviro.com/videos/
More information on SAFF®: www.epocenviro.com
SAFF® news: www.linkedin.com/company/
Technical Publications: https://epocenviro.com/
Sydney Water catchment data: https://www.sydneywater.com.
WHO IS EPOC ENVIRO? Protecting and improving the environment
EPOC Enviro is an award-winning environmental engineering firm. The EPOC acronym stands for ‘Emerging Pollutants of Concern’.
Our mission is to develop and implement clever and practical engineering solutions on a global scale to permanently remove PFAS and other emerging contaminants from the environment.
At EPOC Enviro, we proudly apply the principles of intelligent design, sustainable engineering and green chemistry to our craft.
WHAT IS PFAS?
PFAS are a family of synthetic compounds widely used globally to make products that resist heat, oil, stains, grease and water. PFAS compounds break down very slowly over time and are recognised as an ‘emerging contaminant’ with widespread concerns about their characteristics of persistence, bioaccumulation, toxicity and impacts on human health.
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