PFAS — How to Solve a “Forever” Problem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W74aeuqsiU

Per- and Polyfluorinated Alkylated Substances (PFAS), known as the “Forever Chemicals,” are a class of manufactured chemicals that are toxic to humans, and everything else. And they are everywhere. Accidentally discovered by scientists in the 1940s, these unique chemical compounds, which repel oil, water, and dirt, were a goldmine and incorporated into everyday items as a means to solve everyday problems. The Teflon pan for scrambled eggs, water-resistant raincoats, pizza boxes, cleaning supplies, the list goes on and on. But the problem is these stick-resistant chemicals don’t stick where they’re applied. Instead, they seep into our bloodstreams, accumulate in our soil, and drain into our water supplies. 

Living Forever, and not in a Good Way

Like Oasis, PFAS want to live forever and we do not want them to. Exposure to even low levels of PFAS, even very low parts per trillion levels, is associated with increased cancer risks, developmental challenges in children, decreased fertility, reduced immune and vaccine response, increased cholesterol and obesity amog other issues. Recent studies indicate greater exposure to PFAS may increase the likelihood of COVID-19 infection and serious symptoms. PFAS chemicals pervade our environment and threaten our ability to live happy healthy lives. 

Because PFAS repel oil, water, and dirt, they are extremely difficult to remove and destroy. Their chemical bonds are among the strongest known in nature. As a consequence, these chemicals continue to build up in our food, water, and bloodstreams. There are over 4,700 PFAS chemicals. 95% of American adolescents and adults have measurable levels of PFAS in their blood. So what can we do about it?

Addressing PFAS is an Absolute Necessity

 In 2019, the EPA finally acknowledged the PFAS problem, which was a start. They announced the First-Ever Comprehensive Nationwide PFAS Action Plan, a combination of testing, assessments, and regulations around the sources and sinks of PFAS chemicals. As toxic levels of PFAS were found in the drinking water in 31 states, more and more attention has been to PFAS chemicals in consumer products: our food supply, cosmetics, and household products, not to mention our industrial, agricultural and commercial processes. 

In Maine, one of the states with the highest levels of PFAS due to a history of paper mills, tanneries, and other manufacturers, the Songbird Farm family pulled their produce off store shelves after they discovered their 20-acre organic vegetable and grain farm contained levels of PFAS 400 times higher than state safety levels. “At least we know and we can stop drinking our water. But who still doesn't know?”, the family commented after losing their crop and realizing their 3-year old had also been exposed to astronomically high levels of PFAS. 

They are not alone. Almost two-thirds of the population, approximately 200 million U.S. residents, rely on municipal drinking water that is contaminated with PFAS. The Department of Defense estimates that the 2021 investigation, cleanup and direct costs of PFAS were $3.2bn for that year alone, and the US is just at the tip of the iceberg. 

PFAS is a Global Problem

Water in Asia was found to contain levels of PFAS similar to the United States. In Europe, health-related costs due to PFAS exposure are estimated at €52-84 billion per year. Per Year!  In South Africa, the prevalence of PFAS is so bad, they’ve started referring to it as a pandemic. Early research into PFAS levels in South America are similarly alarming.

Current Solutions are Not Enough

The EPA and other plans include destruction of the chemicals, right? 

Wrong. The industry doesn't actually know how to get rid of PFAS chemicals. These compounds are so hard to destroy that, to date, all solutions, including the most common, Granular Activated Carbon (GAC), just move the problem by giving the PFAS something to bind to. But once it has bound, the media to which it binds has to be removed and sent to landfill where it leaches back into the environment. If you can’t destroy it, you’re just moving the problem. 

The EPA admits two of the agency’s primary concerns are (1) how to remove PFAS from drinking water and (2) how to manage and dispose of PFAS. Currently, PFAS chemicals are removed from water via concentration to activated carbon, ion exchange, or by high-pressure membranes. Once collected, the charcoal, resin, or waste is incinerated, which is a fantastic idea if we’re okay with inhaling PFAS instead of ingesting them. But we’re not, so it’s not. 

So what’s the plan?

The good thing about markets worth hundreds of billions of dollars is that smart people pay attention. There is an encouraging amount of work going on in startups and mature companies alike. At Burnt Island Ventures, we have just made our first investment in a PFAS destruction technology that we’re itching to announce - but not yet.

Enabling regulations are helpful. Limits are down as low as 5.1 parts per trillion (ppt) for PFOA in California, with Michigan, News York, Jersey, and Hampshire, Minnesota, Ohio and others following suit. 

The market knows where this is going, and is already reacting. Landfills are starting to refuse high concentration PFAS materials, leaving upstream actors from utilities to waste management companies stranded. People are crying at water conferences, because without a clear destruction mechanism at scale, there is nowhere for them to go - and as we’ve seen PFAS is everywhere. We rarely see pain points as big as this in water. And that means there are businesses to be built.

The worldwide effort to solve this fundamental issue is just beginning - and the solutions can’t come soon enough.