Enspired Lands Second DoD Contract to Vet its PFAS-Destruction Technology

The Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded $1.2 million to Enspired Solutions to implement its PFAS destruction technology at military facilities. Phase one of this two-part project will entail decontaminating a fire truck holding aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF). Phase two will involve pairing technology that pre-concentrates PFAS with Enspired’s destruction system to treat groundwater.

This project, Enspired’s second one with the DoD, comes on the heels of an award from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) to prove out the Michigan-based developer’s innovation, which it calls its PFASigator. The NIEHS project will focus on destroying PFAS that has been preconcentrated via resin capture and on regenerating the resin for reuse.

Unlike some other systems that tackle multiple contaminants, it was engineered specifically to optimize destruction of these forever chemicals, making it more energy efficient, according to Denise Kay, Enspired Solutions CEO.

“Other approaches designed to destroy a variety of chemicals heat and pressurize the water or indiscriminately put energy into the solution to destroy a lot of [contaminants],” she says.

The way it works is through a chemical reaction that is catalyzed by UV light. The light excites a molecule that releases a hydrated electron into a “cage” that reacts directly with the PFAS molecule, with no need to apply heat or pressure.

“It is very high energy and very reactive,” Kay says, adding the chemical reaction is nonoxidative, so it generates no toxic byproducts.

Pilot studies and treatability tests show the concentrate can be dealt with for between $2 and $7 per gallon, depending on factors such as whether the PFAS came from groundwater, landfill leachate, or another stream; and the method used to concentrate it.

The process is monitored in real time by quantifying the production of fluoride released into the solution, a direct measure of PFAS destruction that Kay says is considered a gold standard to confirm successful resolution.

There are no offsite disposal costs as the now PFAS-devoid liquid can be released to wastewater treatment plants.

The units are small and mobile so they can be temporarily deployed, while larger customized configurations can be permanently installed at sizable water treatment operations.

The first DoD project, now complete, involved testing the PFASigator  on multiple concentrates. Now the technology will be put to the test in two demonstrations: the field demo will address groundwater concentrated by foam fractionation, with the goal to destroy the foam and the ultimate objective being to negate the need for offsite disposal.

DoD will pump groundwater to a foam fractionation devise at a field site where PFAS will be separated and concentrated in foamate. The PFASigator, set up beside that device, will go to work to destroy the PFAS.

The demonstration involving decontamination of a fire truck was motivated by DoD’s authorization of a non PFAS AFFF and its work to change the trucks over to this alternative. So, the tanks must first be cleaned out, which is currently done by repeatedly flushing them with water, a time- and energy-intensive process with PFAS-laden water left behind. 

The demonstration will involve filling the tank once with water, connecting it to the PFASigator to pull the PFAS off the tank wall, and continually circulating it, destroying the contaminant as rinsing occurs.

“Now the water can be released to a wastewater treatment plant. It does not have to be stored on site or disposed in another way, which is the same with the groundwater [concentrated by foam fractionation],” Kay says.

Given that all firetrucks will inevitably transfer to non-PFAS AFFF, Kay anticipates finding opportunity at local fire departments, airports, and even at manufacturing buildings with sprinkler fire systems.

“The ability to change out all that PFAS-containing AFFF and eliminate offsite disposal will be far reaching geographically. And it will be far reaching in the sense that when you can destroy [these contaminants] onsite you are breaking the cycle of PFAS in our global water resources,” Kay says.

Hunter Anderson, an environmental scientist at Noblis, provides technical support to DoD’s Environmental Security Technology Certification Program, which evaluates and funds the PFAS demonstrations.

“Enspired Solutions has conducted preliminary studies demonstrating the potential to fully degrade PFAS with its PFASigator. Its technology differs from other experimental/commercial photocatalytic technologies in that they use a surfactant additive that creates a molecular complex around the PFAS, enhancing the degradation efficiency of the reactive radicals generated by excitation of the catalysis,” he says

The project is intended to inform real-world cost and performance to gauge commercial potential. That assessment is on-going, he says.

Enspired has not sold its equipment yet but has field pilot tested it at multiple sites and Kay says she’s ready to take commercial orders.

The plan is to sell the systems, support clients in optimizing them for their sites; and train them to run them.  

For now, most industries looking to address PFAS are investing in granulated active resin and disposing of it offsite, a conservative, tried- and-true process.

It will take early adopters to confidently move to the next step—destruction—whether their motivation is to do their part to preserve global water resources or because regulations are pushing them in this direction, Kay speculates.

On an interesting sidenote, Enspired is women-owned and women-run.

Kay and co-founder Meng Wang had worked in the environmental remediation consulting industry for years and seen an under-representation of women in leadership.

“We felt it would be important for us to found the company ourselves as two women, and we have worked hard to maintain ownership. Having federal certification as a women-owned small business allows us to access benefits to work on federal contacts and to make it more desirable for larger consulting firms to work with us,” she says.

But there are other, richer benefits in Kay’s eyes.

“When we fail to represent all types of diversity in our leadership, it’s like having blinders on. As a startup focused on innovation, we want to look for all ideas that can open our minds. And the best way to do that is to include diversity of people to get diversity of thought.”