The Forever-Chemical Cleanup Is Starting to Work — Slowly

They are called forever chemicals for a reason. PFAS — a family of more than 12,000 synthetic compounds — have seeped into nonstick pans, firefighting foams, rain jackets, and, eventually, almost everything else. According to MIT Technology Review, scientists have found them in human blood and Antarctic snow alike, and they have been linked to fertility problems, developmental delays, cancer, and weakened immune response.

The carbon-fluorine bond that makes these chemicals so useful is also what makes them nearly indestructible. But a new wave of cleanup research suggests destruction may not be impossible — just early.

Trap or destroy

As reported by MIT Technology Review, the cleanup field splits into two strategies: trapping PFAS or destroying them. Trapping is further along. Reverse osmosis — forcing water through extremely fine filters — works well at the point of use, such as kitchen-sink filters, according to research cited by the publication. For larger facilities, a technique called foam fractionation generates bubbles that capture the chemicals, while other teams are experimenting with nanothin layers of charged metal.

But trapping has a catch: it leaves behind PFAS-filled brine. If that concentrated waste isn't properly destroyed — an expensive, energy-intensive process — the chemicals can simply re-enter the environment.

The destruction push

Destruction is the harder problem, and progress there is more tentative. According to the report, Jack Huang, a professor of crop and soil sciences at the University of Georgia, is testing electrochemical degradation, which uses electrodes to break the bonds holding PFAS together. His method destroyed more than 90% of PFAS mass in tests, the report says, and has already been licensed by the engineering consulting firm AECOM.

Cleaning PFAS-contaminated soil, by contrast, remains in its infancy, the publication notes — water systems are where most of the progress has happened so far.

Policy is the other half

Technology alone won't finish the job. According to MIT Technology Review, there are alternatives to PFAS; what is missing is the push to adopt them. History offers a hopeful precedent: the EPA's 2010/2015 PFOA Stewardship Program helped cut releases of the water-repellent compound perfluorooctanoic acid by 95%, the report notes. More recently, Minnesota, Maine, and New Mexico have passed bans on PFAS in products like cookware and dental floss.

The scientists quoted in the report put the cleanup effort at a six out of ten on their progress meter. The honest read, in their words: removing and destroying PFAS is starting to look feasible — but it will all be for nothing if the tap isn't turned off.

Written by the BidAsk Newsroom. Based on reporting from the sources below.