Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHTPerfluorAd® – Sustainable by combined treatment
Market-ready solution for PFAS reduction in contaminated water and wastewater
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are essential in many promising technologies but also in everyday products. This results from their special physicochemical properties such as water-, grease- and dirt-repellent characteristics and their chemical and thermal stability. However, the high stability of the compounds and their omni-present distribution pose risks to humans, living beings and the environment, which is especially true for its occurrence in aqueous environments and soils. In addition, PFAS are partly toxic, harmful to reproduction or cancer-causing. The EU is therefore planning to ban their production and use. As part of an information exchange, Oliver Krischer, Minister for the Environment of North Rhine-Westphalia, visited Cornelsen Umwelttechnologie GmbH to discuss the future challenges of PFAS disposal. Representatives of the IHK (Chamber of Commerce), ZENIT GmbH and Business Metropole Ruhr GmbH focused, in particular, on the PerfluorAd® reprocessing technology. Fraunhofer UMSICHT as (co-)inventor of the technology and research partner of Cornelsen was also present.
Forward-looking technologies such as fuel cells or Li-ion batteries, everyday products e.g. outdoor textiles or cosmetics, various functional coatings and fire extinguishing agents have one thing in common: they all contain PFAS; a group of substances including more than 10,000 different chemicals[1], whose ecotoxicological effects and impact on human health have been clearly documented. However, many of the mentioned applications still lack fluorine-free alternatives. For this reason, the National Hydrogen Council recommends in-depth research and exemptions until environmentally friendly solutions will be available. Likewise, and with a view to the tasks of applied research, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft (Fraunhofer Society) is positioning itself in the current PFAS discussion and is having intense exchanges with politics and industry.
Minimizing reprocessing costs whilst protecting the environment
With the start of their research activities on PFAS in 2008, Fraunhofer UMSICHT and Cornelsen were the first in Germany to deal with their challenging removal from contaminated groundwater, landfill leachate and industrial wastewater. They conjointly developed the patented PerfluorAd® procedure, which can be used to remove PFAS from extinguishing water effectively and at low cost. PFAS-containing residues from foam or from water at the fire scene are collected directly – e.g. in special containers for collecting extinguishing water in industrial plants. The subsequent reprocessing and decontamination can be carried out both on-site or externally.
In the meantime, Cornelsen has carried out many different water reprocessing projects and -treatments of PFAS-contaminated substances. It has been proven that the PerfluorAd® process is transferable to other applications and can be quickly combined with various PFAS reprocessing technologies such as ion exchange, membrane procedures or activated carbon adsorption. "There is no universal solution for a PFAS reprocessing due to the variety of substances and applications – and this is exactly where we use our strengths. We significantly minimize reprocessing costs while protecting the environment," says Dr.-Ing. Martin Cornelsen, CEO of the eponymous company. "We provide the market with a proven technology for the removal of PFAS from liquid media and for the decontamination of solid surfaces
Fraunhofer UMSICHT contributes to success in the areas of analytics, chemistry and IP whereas Cornelsen is responsible for process engineering. "We have recognized the importance of the topic at an early stage and have continuously been researching practical solutions to the PFAS issue," says Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christian Doetsch, Head of Institute of Fraunhofer UMSICHT. He confirms that the application field is also gaining great importance in the energy sector, such as in electromobility as a functional key element in fuel or electrolysis cells. "
Over the years, we have been building up expertise in this area of materials development at the institute."
New plant for t PFAS disposal from extinguishing water
The overwhelming PFAS issue and the resulting challenges for industry, research, politics and business were subject of a lively discussion during the recent visit by Minister Oliver Krischer at Cornelsen. Further necessary steps were proposed. Martin Cornelsen: "We talked about an upcoming ban on PFAS and possible exemptions, the classification of waste, and also support programs."
Christian Doetsch emphasized the necessity to bring about a roundtable for those companies in North Rhine-Westphalia which are still unaware of having products containing PFAS or that are still informed unsufficiently about alternatives for these products.
The participants took the opportunity to have explained to them in detail the latest mobile PerfluorAd® plant for decontaminating PFAS-loaded fire engines and stationary extinguishing systems. Cornelsen will offer the plant as part of an exclusive customer service to enable to them a conversion to PFAS-free products after a decontamination of the extinguishing systems.
Umweltwirtschaftspreis.NRW 2022 (Environmental Economy Award of North Rhine-Westphalia)
Cornelsen Umwelttechnolgie GmbH took third place in the 2022 awarded Umweltwirtschaftspreis.NRW (Environmental Economy Award of North Rhine-Westphalia). With this competition, the Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Transport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and NRW.BANK honor model companies that combine environmental and climate protection with economic success.
[1] https://www.bmuv.de/faqs/per-und-polyfluorierte-chemikalien-pfas