Towards once-through plasma removal of PFAS in ground water

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are long lived, recalcitrant compounds found in drinking water sources. Removal of these carcinogentic compounds to regulatory limits is costly involving typically a sorptive stage followed by high temperature incineration. Plasma methods offer a nonthermal destructive approach that has shown great efficacy at PFAS removal. Here we present results from the treatment of PFAS contaminated ground water using a pulsed plasma reactor with liquid dielectric barriers. The reactor demonstrated the capacity to reduce the contaminant levels below regulatory action levels. Here we present on plasma discharge performance as well as discuss an approach that enables once through treatment at large flows in contrast to batch mode processing.