System Flowrate
75GPM
Treatment System
GAC + Single Use IX
Treatment Objective
<70 ppt
Treatment Outcome Achieved
We Believe The World Needs Better Ways To Treat PFAS
Opportunity
In July 2020, a transformer fire occurred at a power generating station in the Midwestern United States. Over ten fire departments responded to the call to tame the blaze over multiple hours, which resulted in PFAS-containing firefighting foam being released into the environment. This foam caused widespread PFAS contamination within the plant’s holding ponds, stormwater ponds, ditches, and more.
Challenge
The Wastewater generated from the post-fire response clean-up activities, containing a hard-to-treat mixture of water, firefighting foam, and transformer oils, was pumped to more than 90 frac tanks staged on-site. Additionally, stormwater flowing through the fire response area was captured and pumped to a cement-lined basin to prevent off-site migration of contaminated water to nearby waterways.
The level of total PFAS exceeded 3600 ppt initially and increased to above 5000 ppt during operation, with 6:2 FTS, PFPeA & PFHxA having the highest concentrations of the 28 PFAS analytes measured.
The water required pretreatment due to the elevated TOC concentrations which would have impacted the performance of the ion exchange resin in the PFAS treatment system. Additionally, other contaminants were observed, such as oils & greases, that presented another treatment challenge.
Not only did the solution need to meet the PFAS discharge limit of less than 70 ppt for each individual PFAS compound, it also needed to be robust enough to treat the other assumed contaminants in the water.
Solution
Within one week of receiving the notice to proceed, ECT2 had the first SORBIX™ T Series Rapid Response vessel on-site and ready to treat water. ECT2 approached this project by not only providing the appropriate equipment but also deploying experienced water treatment experts to the site in order to evaluate the situation and make any necessary field adjustments in real time.
ECT2 installed two SORBIX PFAS treatment systems at the site. The first PFAS treatment system was installed at the on-site basin, consisting of three parallel treatment trains, with each train having a pretreatment process step followed by the SORBIX T Series Rapid Response vessels.
After about a month of treatment of the frac tank water by another water treatment contractor, the customer requested ECT2 to take over the treatment of the frac tanks and install the second SORBIX PFAS treatment system. By incorporating ECT2’s process knowledge and history of operating difficult surface waters, the additional treatment system was online and successfully treated all of the water within 5 days.
At the end of the project, over 5.4 million gallons of water, including ponded water as well as containerized water, were successfully treated to the discharge requirements of less than 70 ppt for each PFAS compound. The ECT2 team accomplished the two main customer project goals: treat all the water in an expeditious, but reasonable, timeframe, and meet all discharge requirements.
ECT2’s proven PFAS treatment process and technology, combined with their operating knowledge, provided the customer with a low-risk solution to a very challenging and unplanned event. This combination of providing process field expertise and rapid deployment of water treatment equipment represented a paradigm shift to the normal equipment-only rapid response offerings of the past. This was a true full-service rapid response solution.
