Overview
- Researchers from the Colorado School of Mines are midway through on-site demonstrations at Peterson Space Force Base that trial seven PFAS destruction methods on sediment dredged from a stormwater pond.
- The technologies under evaluation include UV-C photolysis, supercritical water oxidation at 374°C, hydrothermal alkaline treatment with lye and thermo-desorption heated to 400°C.
- Research teams are compiling comparative performance “nutrition labels” that detail removal efficiency, operational costs, energy consumption and safety considerations for each method.
- Findings, expected by the end of July, will inform Department of Defense remediation plans across over 580 sites preliminarily identified as needing further PFAS cleanup.
- Nearby communities in Fountain, Security and Widefield have already installed water treatment systems to address groundwater contamination from firefighting foam runoff at Peterson Base.