Z. Liu
Claros Technologies Inc.,
United States
Keywords: UV, PFAS, industrial, ultrashort-chain, pilot
Summary:
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) remain difficult to treat in industrial wastewater, particularly when moving beyond laboratory-scale demonstrations to reliable field implementation. This study describes the scale-up and onsite evaluation of a novel UV-based PFAS destruction technology deployed as a pilot system at a large U.S. industrial facility. The objective was to assess treatment performance, operational durability, and integration potential within an existing, complex wastewater treatment train. A pilot system incorporating advanced UV-driven destruction chemistry was installed and operated on representative PFAS-impacted wastewater. The unit was tested across a range of conditions, including complex wastewater matrices, elevated PFAS loads, and variable flow rates, to evaluate treatment efficacy and identify optimal operating windows. The work also examined how the technology could be positioned at different locations within the facility’s treatment infrastructure, reflecting real-world integration constraints. The progression from bench-scale validation to pilot-scale engineering design is summarized. To date, the pilot system has treated more than 200,000 gallons of industrial wastewater and consistently achieved greater than 99% destruction of short-chain PFAS in the effluent. Extended-runtime fluorine mass balance data and a preliminary economic analysis demonstrate the technology’s viability at scale. Key lessons learned—from managing complex waste matrices to addressing operational challenges during integration—will be shared to inform future scale-up and deployment efforts. Overall, the results highlight the practical potential of advanced UV-based systems for PFAS destruction in industrial treatment settings.