Pfas chemical destruction process

Abstract

A system and method for chemically destroying, degrading and incinerating a fluorocarbon or fluorinated material, such as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), with reduced emissions of gaseous PFC is provided. The method includes mixing the fluorinated material, a hydroxide base, and optionally a solvent system in a batch reactor to form a suspension. The PFAS and solvent system can be provided by AFFF. The reaction mixture is heated to a temperature ranging from about 25° C. to about 400° C. for about 0.5 hours to about 240 hours to defluorinate the fluorocarbons in the PFAS and produce a defluorinated waste product. More specifically, the method converts organic fluorine present in the PFAS to inorganic fluoride. Thus, the defluorinated waste product can be incinerated with reduced emissions of harmful gaseous PFCs.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.