Guest Blog by CPL/Puragen Activated Carbons
Presentation by CPL/Puragen Activated Carbons at the BSSS Conference in Cardiff, 4 December 2024
PFAS (per-and poly fluoroalkyl substances) is a chemical family consisting of at least 15,000 individual compounds. They are sometimes referred to as ‘forever’ chemicals because of their persistence in the environment. These compounds, which are now known to pose serious health risks for humans and animals, have been widely used in industry since the 1950s, for products including non-stick cookware, firefighting foams, food packaging and fabric coatings. PFAS-group ‘forever’ chemicals are now the number one environmental concern for many industrial sectors.
CPL/Puragen is a leading international supplier of activated carbon-based purification solutions and has developed innovative technologies to remove PFAS compounds from water and air, followed by an advanced thermal reactivation process that recycles the spent carbon and, most importantly, completely destroys these harmful chemicals.
David Reay, CPL/Puragen’s Head of Strategic Partnerships, will be presenting the company’s award-winning PFAS-busting technology at the British Society of Soil Science’s Annual Conference, to be held in Cardiff on 4 and 5 December. The talk, entitled “PFAS Forever Chemicals – Search, Capture & Destroy” will introduce activated carbon filtration technology, explaining its characteristics and why it is such an effective and useful product for the purification of liquid and gas phrase process streams, including soil and groundwater remediation. David will then move on to introduce the concept of mobile carbon filters, widely used in the remediation sector, before going on to explain how CPL/Puragen recycle spent carbon in a process called thermal reactivation.
Having ‘set the scene’ as to how activated carbon is used, the presentation then explores which groups of contaminants can be targeted with this technology, focusing on PFAS ‘forever’ chemicals. David will outline the advances the company has made to offer optimised granular activated carbon (GAC) products, for the enhanced removal of PFAS from the fluid stream, and also explain how the company made use of external consultants to confirm the destruction of the PFAS in its advanced thermal reactivation process. The company’s innovation was recently awarded a prestigious Green Apple Award, recognising the importance of this breakthrough in the pursuit of a sustainable solution for dealing with the serious issue of PFAS contamination of soil, water and air.
Commenting on the forthcoming event, David said, “I am really looking forward to meeting the BSSS members and sharing our award-winning breakthrough, which we strongly believe can make a valuable contribution in the fight against PFAS-group chemicals. I have presented on this subject in the past, most recently at the Environmental Services & Solutions (ESS) expo at the NEC, which is where we net the BSSS team and floated the idea of joining your annual conference to present our technology.”
For more information about PFAS abatement with granular activated carbon, please visit the CPL/Puragen website: https://activated-carbon.com/news/what-is-pfas/
