General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) announced that Minnesota Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN) and other members of state and local government attended a real-time demonstration of the complete destruction of per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) waste streams using GA-EMS鈥� PERSES waste destruction system at a site located in Lake Elmo, MN on Friday, May 30.
The PERSES system is currently onsite at the Lake Elmo facility for a four-week period to demonstrate the system鈥檚 industrial-scale capabilities to destroy a wide variety of PFAS and PFAS contaminated waste. The PERSES system will then be shipped to other suitable test sites for additional on-site PFAS destruction testing and demonstrations. 鈥淭his is an exciting day as we learn how to break down the toxic chemical bond of PFAS. Through Department of Defense investment and private-sector innovation, General Atomics has achieved an extraordinary scientific breakthrough by completing a successful PFAS remediation in a controlled setting,鈥� said Congresswoman McCollum. 鈥淏ut there鈥檚 still work to be done. Now, we must focus on scaling this technology so that it can be a solution for communities and military installations at large to eliminate the threat of PFAS pollution.鈥�
GA-EMS is conducting the onsite demonstrations under a contract award by Bay West LLC, an environmental and remediation company leading a research program funded by the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) to deliver, install, and operate PERSES for multiple project demonstrations to destroy PFAS and PFAS contaminated waste.鈥淲e are extremely pleased to be working with Bay West and ERDC in welcoming Congresswoman McCollum, state, regional and local officials to witness the effectiveness of PERSES in the destruction of PFAS,鈥� said Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS. 鈥淥nsite demonstrations such as this bring the power of PERSES directly into a community to demonstrate in person the system鈥檚 capabilities to safely and efficiently eliminate PFAS from a broad range of waste media including landfill leachate, biosolid 鈥渟ludge鈥�, soils and sediment, firefighting foam, and granular activated carbon and resin beads from filtration treatment systems. PERSES is the most effective tool in the waste remediation toolkit that can help bring an end to the forever cycle of PFAS contamination.鈥�
PERSES uses GA-EMS鈥� proven industrial Supercritical Water Oxidation (iSCWO) technology which has been in commercial use for more than a decade to effectively destroy PFAS and more than 200 hazardous and non-hazardous types of waste with 99.99% and greater efficiency. In a single process, PERSES destroys PFAS and PFAS waste with co-contaminants leaving behind only water, salts, and carbon dioxide which can be safely released into the environment with no post-treatment requirement.
Bay West is a nationally recognized environmental consulting and remediation company headquartered in St. Paul, MN that provides solutions to government and commercial enterprises to navigate complex environmental concerns and ongoing remediation challenges.
ERDC is an integral component of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and helps solve the nation鈥檚 most challenging civil and military engineering, geospatial sciences, water resources, and environmental sciences for the Army, DoD, civilian agencies and for the nation鈥檚 public good.
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