How to Destroy ‘Forever Chemicals’
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-destroy-forever-chemicals/
Author: Lars Fischer
Perfluorinated and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, or PFASs, are considered indestructible chemicals. They are virtually nondegradable and accumulate in humans and the environment. In a study recently published in the Journal of Environmental Engineering, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found that a heat- and pressure-based technique known as supercritical water oxidation destroyed 99% of the PFASs present in a water sample. The first attempts at using new methods to destroy these “indestructible” substances offer at least some hope. The researchers tried methods from three companies. Each method differed slightly in the chemicals and processes used. “Given that supercritical water oxidation systems are already commercially available, this may be a technology that could soon be deployed for significantly impacted sites or wastewaters,” Krause says.