What does Aclarity do?

Our mission: Destroy PFAS Forever. Aclarity offers a revolutionary, low energy electrochemical process that destroys PFAS found in water and liquid waste.

What’s different about Aclarity?

Unlike many of the technologies used today, Aclarity destroys PFAS. Many commonly used technologies, such as Granular Activated Carbon (GAC), merely remove the PFAS. A second step of disposal is required such as deep well injection, incineration or sometimes, the removed PFAS get put right back into landfills.

I need to remove and destroy PFAS in landfill leachate, can Aclarity do that?

Yes! Aclarity can do more than remove PFAS. We destroy PFAS in situ. Often times we can treat raw landfill leachate with nearly zero pretreatment.

I have a very concentrated stream with extremely high levels of PFAS, can Aclarity help?

Yes! Highly concentrated PFAS streams are ideal for Aclarity and often offer the best OPEX for our customers. We can begin with a complimentary LC-MS analysis to determine the PFAS destruction possible at your facility. Get an initial consultation here.

What about using Granular Activated Carbon for removal?

Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) can be used to successfully remove PFAS from water, however it does not destroy PFAS. The GAC filters need to be replaced, sometimes very often, and then disposed of. Replacement of the carbon media and off-site trucking costs can become costly and labor intensive. While it is an effect method to remove PFAS from water and liquid waste, it only “kicks the ball down the road” and does not fully address the problem. Additionally, GAC is not an ideal solution to remove PFAS for more highly concentrated streams as they are rapidly exhausted and require disposal, potentially being considered hazardous waste. The replacement of the exhausted media is expensive and time consuming.

What about foam fractionation? Doesn’t that destroy PFAS?

Foam fractionation does not destroy PFAS, however it can concentrate PFAS up to 10,000x and the resulting concentrate needs to be disposed of. It can often be concentrated to nearly the same concentration as its original form. This does help with disposal, however, and it has been argued that handling this level of concentrated PFAS needs to be done in a very careful manner.

What’s wrong with removing PFAS and then disposing of it?

In September 2022, the USEPA proposed designating some PFAS compounds as hazardous waste under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund. Under this designation, the liability of disposing of PFAS could remain with the entity that removed it. Destruction on-site using the Aclarity technology could eliminate this liability.

What level treatment is needed before treatment? TSS or COD?

Screening down to 100 microns, only to protect pumps and valves. TSS and COD are not an issue.

In drinking water treatment with low concentrations, how would the Aclarity tech work?

While the Aclarity technology can destroy low concentrations of PFAS, we have found it is more cost effective to first concentrate the PFAS in the water using reverse osmosis or nanofiltration membranes, ion exchange resins, or foam fractionation. The Aclarity systems can then be used to treat the more concentrated waste stream.

What level of PFAS concentration is ideal for Aclarity’s technology?

Our systems can treat PFAS concentrations from the low nanogram per liter (parts per trillion) range up to the milligram per liter range (parts per million). However, our systems are most cost effective on high concentration, low volume streams. If you let us know what the concentrations and volumes are, we can quicky give a rough estimate of system costs. Depends on electrical costs and disposal costs.

Does high salinity/TDS matter?

No, higher salinity means higher conductivity in the water, which is beneficial for our process.

Do metals in the water affect the process?

No, metals do not impact the treatment of PFAS. Some metals, most commonly, calcium and magnesium, can deposit on the electrodes, which can require periodic cleaning with acids.

Does the amount of organics in the water affect the process?

No, as part of our process, we create many strong oxidants that destroy many organic compounds in the water. If your target contaminants are PFAS, we have found that the levels of organic matter in the water do not affect the destruction of PFAS. We have found that the efficiency of the destruction is the same in landfill leachate as in model waters without any other organic compounds present.

Where is the treated water discharged?

This always depends on your facility’s location and permitting. However, generally, treated water can be discharged to local wastewater plants after a GAC polishing step to remove residual oxidants.

What are the byproducts of the process?

Organic material is mineralized to basic constituents such as CO₂, nitrogen gas, sulfate ions, and other innocuous salts. In the case of PFAS, the majority of the compounds are mineralized to byproducts including CO₂, HF and free fluoride ions. We have demonstrated that we can effectively destroy >90% of organic fluorine; you can learn more about this on our technology page.

Are you splitting water?

Yes – the water is electrolyzed to form hydrogen and oxygen gases.

Is there any extra chemical addition required for the Aclarity process?

For most treatment scenarios, we do not need to add additional chemicals. For leachate, we may add a silicone-based defoaming agent to some leachates. We may also add acids or bases to enhance some reactions. For waters with low conductivity, we may also add sodium chlorine to enhance the reaction rate.

Can you treat drinking water or groundwater?

Yes, but we have found that we are more cost effective if we partner with another technology such as regenerable IX or RO to create a concentrated waste stream which we then treat prior to disposal.

Can you treat contaminated soils?

We cannot treat solids like soils or biosolids. However for biosolids there is an opportunity to place the Aclarity system at a wastewater treatment plant to destroy PFAS as they enter the facility. That way, biosolids will not be plagued with PFAS. Aclarity can also partner with a soil washing process where we can then treat the wash water to destroy PFAS after they are removed from soil.