Commercial Waste Research Articles

Upcycling Poly(ethylene terephthalate) by Fabricating Membranes for Desalination

Waste plastic upcycling is attracting increasing attention as a green and sustainable route for membrane fabrication. However, the existing literature in this domain is limited only to few commercial applications. This work presents the performance of membranes synthesized from recycled poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) for water desalination. PET extracted from waste plastic bottles was used to produce asymmetric membranes via nonsolvent-induced phase separation. The membrane performance was optimized by fine-tuning the PET, cosolvent, and additive concentration and the coagulation bath temperature. Increasing the PET content in the casting solution led to a decline in permeance across all experiments. A higher % composition of the volatile cosolvent in the solution improved the membrane selectivity. The addition of poly(ethylene glycol) as a pore-forming agent enhanced the permeance, and a higher NaCl rejection was observed when the coagulation bath temperature was decreased from 25 to 0 °C. Subsequently, PET membranes were also used as a support to fabricate thin-film composite membranes via interfacial polymerization of trimesoyl chloride and piperazine. These membranes demonstrated a remarkable permeance of 73 ± 4 L m–2 h–1 bar–1 with a 33 ± 2% NaCl rejection. The findings of this study offer promising prospects for developing high-performance membranes using commercial plastic waste.

Boosting the Circular Manufacturing of the Sustainable Paper Industry – A First Approach to Recycle Paper from Unexploited Sources such as Lightweight Packaging, Residual and Commercial Waste

In the past decades, the German paper industry has been increasing the sustainability of paper production by continuously using more recovered paper. Today, recovered paper is an essential secondary raw material to produce new paper. Nevertheless, around 20 % of the paper produced in Germany is still not returned to the recovered paper stream and instead is mostly thermally used. To further increase the use of fibers from recovered paper as secondary raw material and thus, to reduce primary energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, new approaches to recycle recovered paper from mixed waste streams are needed. In the research project "Energy savings in paper production by opening up the value chains of recovered paper from lightweight packaging, residual waste and commercial waste” (EnEWA), a treatment process is developed to recover and recycle recovered paper from the mentioned waste streams. The advanced mechanical process to be newly developed consists of dry-mechanical sorting, the manufacturing of economically usable secondary raw materials (defibration), their wet-mechanical dissolution, separation and hygienization and finally their reuse in paper production. This enables the exploitation of new waste streams in material recycling and thus contributes to reduced energy consumption as well as CO2 emissions within the circular economy. Initial material characterization analyses show that on the one hand the quality of the paper discarded in mixed waste streams is sufficient to be used as secondary raw material and that on the other hand up to 50 % of the paper discarded could have been disposed of within the separate paper collection. The results are incorporated in the development of a sorting process for pre-concentrates, which serves as input material for the treatment process to recover paper fibers. In further steps, the results generated will be integrated, for instance, into the future development of the minimum standard for packaging recycling.

Solid waste workers in India and the COVID-19 pandemic: A Review of Intersecting challenges

Introduction: Municipal garbage/refuse, sludge, industrial and commercial waste, etc. is termed Solid Waste (SW) and those who handle such waste are SW workers. But the COVID-19 pandemic has hit them hard. SW workers play a vital role in waste management to safeguard and promote public health. But they are often unappreciated and the various health risks and vulnerabilities associated with waste handling are overlooked. This study aimed to review the working conditions and morbidities of SW workers highlighting the longstanding challenges before and after the onset of COVID-19 in India. Methods: Databases such as PubMed and Google Scholar were used for the inclusion of articles. Drawing from the literature on the working conditions and morbidities of SW workers in India alongside grey literature and news reports by electronic media during the pandemic, this paper highlights the longstanding challenges of SW workers. Results: The health morbidities and structural challenges due to caste, and class that were reported as being faced by SW workers across the studies have worsened at the onset of COVID-19. There is a multiplying effect of their vulnerability due to the disadvantages of caste and class. Due to power dynamics, they were forced to work without proper wages and appropriate healthcare resources. Many incidents across the country reported stigma and discrimination; poor access and utilization of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) among SW workers resulted in infections and deaths due to the pandemic. Lack of proper data on COVID-19 infected SW workers; lack of proper certification had halted their insurance claims. Conclusion: This paper noted the multiplying effect of long-standing vulnerabilities that were exposed during the pandemic. Proper maintenance of health records and a sustainable employee grievance redressal mechanism are essential. The need of the hour is to focus on strategies to improve their working conditions along with policies to protect their dignity and empower them.

Scrap Metal Classification Using Magnetic Induction Spectroscopy and Machine Vision

The need to recover and recycle material towards building a circular economy is increasingly a global imperative. Non-ferrous metals in particular are highly recyclable and can be extracted using processes such as eddy current separation. However, their further separation into recyclable groups based on metal or alloy continues to pose a challenge. Recently, we proposed a new technique to discriminate between non-ferrous metals: Magnetic induction spectroscopy (MIS) measures how a metal fragment scatters an excitation magnetic field over different frequencies. MIS is related to conductivity, which can be used to classify the fragment according to this property. In this paper, we demonstrate for the first time the use of MIS with machine learning to classify non-ferrous scrap metals drawn from commercial waste streams. Two approaches are explored: (1) MIS over a bandwidth from 3 kHz to 90 kHz, and (2) the combination of MIS with physical colour of the metal samples. We show that MIS alone can obtain purity and recovery rates >80% for most metal groups and waste streams, rising to >93% for stainless steel. The exception was the Zorba waste stream where the mix of aluminium alloys within the sample set led to poor conductivity contrasts. The introduction of colour substantially improved results in this case, increasing purity and recovery rates by 20-35 percentage points. Of the machine learning models tested, we found that random forest, extra trees and support vector machine algorithms consistently achieved the highest performance.

Assessment and Implications of Waste Transportation and Disposal Practices of Rural and Urban Dwellers in Kwara State, Nigeria

The piles of solid waste that have accumulated across the cities of Kwara State, Nigeria, pose a serious threat to public health. The implications of waste disposal and transportation practices on the health of people cannot be undermined, which may include environmental health issues such as outbreaks of cholera, lassa fever, malaria and other diseases which have been frequently experienced in the study area. In order to avert such incidences in the nearest future, this study assessed solid waste disposal and transportation practices and its implications on the health of the people in rural and urban areas of Kwara State. Three research questions and two hypotheses were tested for the study. An ex-post facto research design was used. The sample for the study was chosen using a multi-stage sampling technique. A total of 754 questionnaires were given to household heads who were chosen at random from six Local Government Areas in Kwara State. For research questions, mean, standard deviation and percentages were used, and the study hypotheses were analysed using an independent sample t-test. Findings revealed that rural and urban dwellers in Kwara State use similar methods of solid waste disposal (P-values= 0.99>0.05, 0.99>0.05) and transportation (P-values=0.13>0.05, 0.07>0.05). Most of the disposal methods used are unhygienic and not environmental friendly (open burning, dumping on bare floors and drainages, and use of pits dug at the backyard). Also, majority of the respondents do not transport their wastes, some of the respondents give to children to dispose off on the streets, some take it along to dispose illegally when going to work, while a few patronize government and commercial waste collectors). The implications of such practices were found to be too important to be neglected such as unpleasant odour, disease outbreaks and loss of aesthetic value of the streets. It was suggested among others that household members should try to use accessible healthy waste disposal options such as composting, sanitary landfill and recycling of waste in order to prevent environmental health diseases and degradation.

Study of the Combustion Process for Two Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF) Streams Using Statistical Methods and Heat Recovery Simulation

This study characterises materials that belong to the group of refuse-derived fuels (RDF). This group of materials regarded as an alternative fuel is derived from industrial, municipal solid and commercial wastes. The aim of this study is to evaluate the quality of waste composition, demonstrate statistically different values and the energy efficiency of the fuel derived from waste. Data on incinerated waste were collected from two different sources. The basic physical and chemical parameters of waste include density and water content. The lower heating value (LHV) of waste, chlorine concentration and ash content of two groups of incinerated waste were also evaluated and compared for a given period of time (one year, with monthly breakdown). Statistical analysis indicated the differences in the combustion of waste groups, visualized by box plots and other diagrams to show the distribution of the results. An analysis of exhaust gas parameters was carried out, both in terms of chemical composition and energy parameters. The RDF combustion process was presented through simulations for the adopted conditions of heat recovery. It was found that for each kilogram of RDF, about 3.85 kWh (13,860 kJ) of heat can be obtained. The combustion process was simulated using Aspen Plus software.

Decentralized Composting Analysis Model—Benefit/Cost Decision-Making Methodology

Municipal solid waste management is considered one of the major environmental challenges. Organic waste, especially food waste, usually accounts for over 50 wt% of municipal solid waste, yet, in most countries, it is the least recovered material. Decentralized composting aims to develop a new framework of waste management, building a closed-loop system for the composting of home, community, and commercial organic waste in urban environments. However, in some cases, decentralized composting is not economically and/or environmentally viable. Even when it is viable, various barriers and challenges need to be addressed in many cases. Different models in the literature address certain aspects of organic waste management, such as food waste treatment technology, recovery of energy, site selection, or environmental impact. The objective of this study is to provide guidelines and a methodological framework to quantify economic, social, operational, environmental, and regulatory aspects, in order to examine the viability and feasibility of decentralized composting projects at any given location. The decentralized composting analysis model proposed in this study has been developed with an innovative approach to decentralized composting project planning and design, an approach that is both holistic and very practical. The innovative model incorporates various aspects to examine the viability of decentralized composting projects based on benefit/cost criteria. In this respect, a result obtained through another model that examines a specific aspect of decentralized composting can be used as input for the model presented here. The decentralized composting analysis model provides a powerful tool for decision makers, based on the quantification of the decentralized composting project characteristics, and a benefit/cost index that takes into account the various impact variables. The decentralized composting analysis model allows examining the viability of the decentralized composting project in different scenarios, locations and options, and can help indicate the most viable alternative. In this paper, we describe the decentralized composting analysis model and its methodological framework, along with numerical examples to demonstrate its implementation.

Formal and informal solid waste management in Kutaisi, Georgia: A status quo report based on material flow analysis.

The goal of this study is a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of processes and flows within the solid waste management (WM) system in Kutaisi, Georgia, and the wider Imereti region. The applied methodology based upon data collected through customized questionnaires enabled both the formal and informal sectors (IS) to be characterized. Moreover, waste composition studies in the region's rural and semi-urban areas revealed that the share of recyclables is higher in urban areas and commercial centres. A material flow analysis was used to transparently consolidate the collected data, showing that dumping and landfilling still play a major role within the Georgian WM system. The total amount of waste landfilled on 'Nikea' landfill in 2019 equals 58,000 tonnes year-1, from where around 55,500 tonnes year-1 is formally collected municipal solid waste, and 2,503 tonnes year-1 is commercial and industrial waste. According to the findings, the size of the IS in Kutaisi is 0.07-0.15% of the city's population, whose supposed cumulative income is estimated GEL 0.57-1.13 million (EUR 180-360 thousand) in 2019. Informally collected recyclables are estimated 870-1,750 tonnes year-1, comprising 6-11% of recyclables landfilled in Kutaisi in 2019. The study provides a basis for decision-makers. Replicating the applied methodologies and approaches to create this sound database could support the WM system across whole Georgia. The study further reveals the importance of the need to stop neglecting the IS and recognizes the importance of its role in the WM system of Kutaisi and the wider Imereti region, respectively.

Transforming Waste to Wealth, Achieving Circular Economy

Wastes are usually thought of as unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance which is discarded after primary use, or considered worthless, defective, and of no use. The term is often subjective, as not every application has identical raw material requirements and sometimes even objectively inaccurate. A starting point towards managing waste is the division in basic categories, ranging from municipal and agricultural waste to radioactive and explosive waste. Through proper collection of municipal solid waste, very important metals and other valuable sources can be recovered and used in new products, thus achieving significantly lower production cost and environmental impact. Success stories in waste management are reported in countries around the world. These typically showcase optimal waste transformation to wealth. Furthermore, applied waste management methods are specified. These actions should be adapted by every organization handling waste. At a managerial level, these must be considered as potential resources, commodities with significant economic, environmental and sociological added value. This paper attempts to identify and present the valuable resources and products that exist in waste streams, focusing mainly on their monetary value, based on data recovered from literature and raw materials stock markets. Municipal solid waste and non-hazardous commercial and industrial wastes are considered in this context. The methodology followed was based on identification and analysis of cities-communities and countries that have successfully adopted waste management policies towards circular economy and waste to wealth transformation.

Novel zero waste tactics for commercial vegetables – recent advances

Abstract Commercial vegetables include tomatoes, potatoes, onions, and eggplant due to their surplus production, availability, and affordability. The valorisation of the massive wastage of commercial vegetables and providing a long-term solution has been challenging. The review addresses the implications of biowastes on the environment and fosters the recent investigations into valorising commercial vegetable waste to develop multiple value-added products. It discussed the outcomes of the multiple technologies, majorly on green chemistry extraction, while outlining other methods such as fermentation, enzymatic treatments, 3D printing foods, high-pressure homogenisation, microencapsulation, bio-absorption method, and pyrolysis for their respective vegetable wastes. Agri-residues can be a valuable source for formulating functional ingredients, natural additives, biodiesel, dyes, and animal feed. This comprehensive review proposes a strategy to upcycle low-cost biowaste to boost the economic and ecological benefits. The current review captures the interests and great collaborations between researchers, industrialists, policymakers, waste management bodies, and eco-activists.

Functionalization of gum arabic derivatives for catalytic neutralization of organophosphates

Aiming sustainable catalysts to neutralize toxic organophosphates, we functionalized gum arabic derivatives -commercial and industrial waste- with hydroxamate groups via covalent bonds. The polymeric catalysts promote the effective degradation of organophosphates with selectivity and recycling. Half-lifetimes of over 20 years (without catalysts) can be reduced to 30 min in the presence of the catalysts. Hence, biocompatible and waste-derived polymeric materials are promising scaffolds for biocatalysts for promoting chemical security.

Recent development, utilization, treatment and performance of solid wastes additives in asphaltic concrete worldwide: A review

Asphalt modifications either involved commercial or recycled waste materials modifiers help optimise and improve the deficient properties of asphalt mixtures relative to current standards. This manuscript reviews the recycling of waste materials generated from various sources such as household, agricultural and industrial to minimise natural resources exploitation, lower energy demand, and enhance overall pavement performance. The actual development and implementation of recycled asphalt pavement in numerous countries in Asia, North America, South America, Europe and Africa are emphasised, and their influence on the performance of asphalt pavements is reviewed. Modified pavement showed satisfying performance for years as maintenance and restoration are not required. Generally, solid wastes are required to undergo pre-requisite treatments via mechanical, biological stabilization, thermal or chemical methods before the implementation as asphalt modifiers to ease the handling process. Moisture damage issues have been spotted in the implementation of several types of solid wastes and consequently reduced the strength and durability of pavement. Therefore, potential hydrophobic treatment can be adopted to improve the quality of asphalt mixtures by modifying the hydrophilic characteristics that are contributed by the hydroxyl groups on the cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) or providing a superhydrophobic coating onto the particles. The treatments greatly weakened the moisture sensitivity of modified materials by reducing their water absorption and increasing their water contact angle. The modified mixtures are necessary to have identical or enhanced pavement performance to the conventional mixtures. Besides, future researchers are encouraged to broaden the research field in pavement engineering by considering chemical treatments in improving material properties to achieve cost-saving, efficient waste management, and higher commercial feasibility. Before implementing any virgin materials, waste materials and by-products as alternative substances or modifiers, it is strongly advised to consider the environmental and economic impacts of the material properties and their optimal incorporation. • The applications of solid waste materials modifiers in asphalt modification were reviewed. • Various sources of waste materials were adopted in experiments and field studies. • Prerequisite treatments are necessary to prolong the service life of asphalt pavements.

BIO-WASTE MANAGEMENT LEGISLATION REGULATIONS AND POLICIES: A CASE STUDY OF PAKISTAN

The twenty-first century's rapid urbanization, industrialization, modernization, and digitalization cause an increase in wastes including household, commercial, mining, radioactive, agriculture, healthcare, and electronic wastes, among others. The management of these wastes is evolving into a global problem. Waste management is the collection, transportation, separation, destruction, processing, recycling, management, supervision, and control of rubbish, sewage, and other waste products. The protection of people's health from negative effects and the preservation of the environment from negative effects are the main objectives of waste management. Around the world, a variety of modern techniques are being applied to manage these wastes. They include waste to energy, composting, bioremediation, incineration, immobilization, plasma combustion, ocean/sea disposal, and recycling of biological materials. The effectiveness of these waste management techniques increases the environment's appropriateness for supporting life. Additionally, it makes it possible for future generations to live in a secure and safe environment. Finding and putting into practice the best waste management plan is urgently needed for both global population health and environmental sustainability. The process for managing waste will improve greatly in both effectiveness and success. In various parts of the world, a variety of waste management techniques have been employed. The qualitative research methodology has been applied to the following article.

Plug-in hybrid electric refuse vehicle routing problem for waste collection

Commercial waste collection is an essential service requiring efficient and reliable provision for customers. At the operational level, one of the most challenging problems is to design a set of refuse vehicle routes to collect waste from a set of bins. To be used multiple times, these vehicles must be emptied regularly throughout the day. This paper investigates a waste collection problem with a homogeneous fleet of plug-in hybrid electric refuse vehicles powered by two different power sources, i.e., electricity and compressed natural gas (CNG). In addition, realistic fuel consumption functions are used to estimate total energy requirements for each type of fuel, including refueling and recharging, and the detailed energy consumption along the path between two nodes of interest. We propose a Hybrid Threshold Acceptance (HTA) algorithm for this problem and denote it as the Hybrid Waste Collection Problem (HWCP). Extensive computational experiments confirm that the proposed HTA algorithm provides good results against current state-of-the-art algorithms designed for the electric vehicle routing problem. Out detailed computational results demonstrate the performance of our method considering either full or partial recharging, as well as the effect of different battery/tank capacities. Compared to the standard CNG or electric vehicles, we also show the benefits of using a fleet of hybrid electric refuse vehicles in terms of operational costs and total distance traveled.

Enhancement of Composting Methods in Solid Waste Management

The most pressing problem faced by any city center in India nowadays is Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM). Rapid urbanization and converting life have caused the era of massive amounts of garbage and waste within the city regions, so much so, over the last few years, just the managing this Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) has assumed the share of a primary organizational, economic and environmental task. Despite MSWM being a chief task of the local governments, normally accounting for a massive part of the municipal budget - about 20% to 50%, the Urban Local Bodies (ULBS) are not able to offer effective services. Most of the ULBs do now not even have dependable MSW generation estimates. Unfortunate fallout of rapid urbanization without good enough infrastructure backup is that during all Indian cities/cities, disposal of waste is carried out indiscriminately, main to stray animal menace, clogged drains and unfold of diseases. The procedure of collection, transportation, and disposal of MSW is not complete in a maximum of the towns/cities with rubbish thousands final unattended till the severity reaches unmanageable proportions. Also, the high organic content material of Indian MSW, compounded through the recent, and humid tropical weather results in the rapid decomposition of the uncollected waste and is an ever-present health risk. Municipal waste that is improperly disposed of has a severe and dangerous effect on a wide range of areas. Along with waste discarded close to rivers, lakes, and streams, trash dumped in the street or in open areas poses a threat to public health. Delivers contaminated water. When the trash is burned outside instead of being properly disposed of, pollutants are produced and hazardous gases are released into the atmosphere. Throwing no biodegradable items down open drains causes them to enter the sewer system, blocking pipes and harming the infrastructure. The risks associated with the disposal of untreated medical and commercial waste are increased by the release of pathogens and poisonous substances, which represent a serious threat not only to human life but also to that of plants and animals. The effects of trash thrown in the area go beyond just being an eyesore; entire landscapes are destroyed, and certain habitats for flora and fauna are lost. All of these issues are commonplace in India, where tremendous portions of strong waste remain uncollected within the streets, along side primary roads, in empty plots of land, on downhill slopes, and in illegal dumps.

Rethinking recurring waste flows: Creating material cycles by identifying new use cases for idle materials

This article presents Collaborative Material Workshops (CMW), aimed at identifying new use cases for commercial waste materials waste materials, which are continuously being generated and have valuable technical properties. With the assumption that such materials habe a high re-use potential, they are defined here as idle material streams. The objective of CMW is to identify scalable and feasible applications for the re-use of idle material streams and to communicate those results to commercial adopters. In cooperation with a local secondary material initiative and a project-related NGO, TU Berlin researchers have investigated the idle materials “printing blankets” and “aluminium composite panels” in two CMWs. Both materials combine valuable technical properties, a short use phase, and poor recyclability. The resulting two CMWs included 1) detailed background research, 2) physical material testing and 3) experimental CMW with material-related experts. With a special focus on the construction industry, the erticle discusses the barriers of identifying scalable and feasible new use cases for idle materials through the method of CMW.

Natural Halloysite Nanotubes Coated Commercial Paper or Waste Newspaper as Highly‐Thermal‐Stable Separator for Lithium‐Ion Batteries

AbstractCommercial polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) films are widely used as separators for lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs). However, owing to the poor thermal stability of PP and PE films, current LIBs suffer from serious safety risks in their practical applications. As an effective path, the design of novel high‐safety composite separators can significantly overcome the safety issues of LIBs. Herein, a universal and cost‐effective strategy is developed to fabricate highly‐thermal‐stable separators via coating natural halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) on both sides of commercial papers or waste newspaper. The resulted separators show superior properties, including thermal stability, heat conduction, wettability, and electrolyte uptake. Compared with commercial PP separators, both HNTs coated A4 paper and waste newspaper composite separators enable better cycling and rate performance for Li/LiFePO4 cells. Even after burning in fire or treating under 180 °C, the composite separators still present a normal structure, and the assembled cell can perform as regular. Furthermore, the nail penetration test of pouch cells illustrates that such separator significantly prevents thermal runaway of LIBs. The inexpensive and environmentally friendly materials with a facile coating process provide a highly‐thermal‐stable separator for commercial LIBs.

The recyclability and printability of electrophotographic printed paper

Abstract Paper is the most successful recycled material from commercial and municipal wastes. Part of recycled paper requires deinking to meet the product requirement, such as tissue, printing grade and newspaper. The original print method plays a major role in deinking performance. The digital print methods, such as electrophotographic (or laser) print, have been rapidly adapted in the commercial printing. Paper mills need to modify their procedure to deink these types of recycled paper, which contain fine toner particles. In this study, the recyclability of electrophotographic printed paper has been evaluated extensively, or three repeats with an industrial standard. Meanwhile, recycled fiber from each repeat underwent printability analysis. Except the influence from papermaking method and pulp furnish, the strength of the recycled fiber slightly declines after each repeat because of fiber deterioration, which also affected the paper surface properties. However, the recycled fiber presented good printability on each recycling, especially on print density and fine details. It suggested that the electrophotographic substrate can tolerate a high recycled fiber content.

The Relationship between Socio-economic Characteristics of Urban Inhabitants and the Quantity of Domestic Waste Generation in Mattakkuliya Grama Niladhari Division, Colombo

The unwanted objects and unusable substances are referred as waste. These are classified as agricultural waste (AW), commercial waste (CW), domestic waste (DW), and industrial waste (IW) based on their source of generation. DW is generated during the household activities like cleaning, cooking, etc. The exodus of DW is comparatively very high in urban areas than in rural. Also, there is a close relationship between the quantity of DW and the socio-economic characterizes of urban inhabitants. The objectives of this study are identifying the generating factors of DW and to explore the relationship between socio-economic characteristics of urban inhabitants and the quantity of domestic waste. To achieve the objective of the study, 150 houses in Mattakkuliya were randomly selected. Providing questionnaire, unstructured interview, and observation were the primary data collection method. Secondary data such as research papers, statistical reports, and the Internet were used for further data. Based on the study, about 3.5-16 kg of DW is produced daily from each household in the study area. Meanwhile, the daily per capita waste production is found to be 0.5-5 kg. Of these, food scraps (45%), paper (20%), glass (5%), plastic bags (18%) and others (12%) were the most important. Results indicated a linear relationship between socio-economic characteristics and the quantity of DW in the study area. Thus, direct and indirect socio-economic characteristics such as family size, income, average age of the family members, sex, occupation, literacy and marital status were the explored by the study. Keywords: Domestic waste, Socio-economic, Urban inhabitants

Commercial‐scale remediation of per‐ and polyfluoroalkyl substances from a landfill leachate catchment using Surface‐Active Foam Fractionation (SAFF®)

AbstractThis article presents the results from a commercial‐scale field trial of the Surface‐Active Foam Fractionation (SAFF) process for the removal of per‐ and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from a landfill leachate catchment at the Telge Recycling plant, Sweden. There have been 23 sampling events for PFAS influent and effluent concentrations over the course of 10 months, during which approximately 80,000 m3 of leachate feed has been successfully treated without the need for complex pretreatment. The contracted throughput was 330 m3 per day (120,000 m3/year), but, in practice, it varied between 200 m3 and 500 m3 per day depending upon the inventory of the upstream leachate catchment. Over the trial period, it was demonstrated that SAFF was successful in removing ≥98.7% perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), ≥99.7% perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), and ≥98.8% perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS) from the feed stream without using absorbent media or chemical amendment consumables, including the partial/significant removal of other PFAS species. The reported removal percentages are constrained by the limit of reporting (LOR) of analytical testing of the “treated stream”; the actual removal percentages could be higher as detailed by a single sampling event “I” included herein. The mean concentrations of the treated stream were ≤2.34 ng/L PFOS, ≤1.28 ng/L PFOA, and ≤1.00 ng/L PFHxS; the contractual criteria requirement was to reduce PFOS to <50 ng/L. The results are concordant with those obtained by Burns et al. (2021) who demonstrated that SAFF technology removed ≥99.8% PFOS, ≥99.8% PFOA, and ≥98.4% PFHxS from a PFAS‐contaminated groundwater stream at the Army Aviation Centre Oakey military base in Australia. The present study extends what was learned from the previous Australian groundwater study in that there is more complex chemistry associated with the leachate feed stream arising from landfill receipt of domestic, commercial, and industrial waste to the landfill cells. In addition, the climatic dependency that was considered by Burns et al. (2021) is explored in a colder environment and is found to be practically insignificant with respect to PFAS removal. Burns et al. (2021) asserted that nearly complete PFAS removal is achieved if the Brusseau adsorption coefficient is greater than approximately 1 µm. The present study extends this analysis to demonstrate that removal percentages fall to approximately 0 at an adsorption coefficient of 0.02 µm with a functional form of a sigmoid on semi‐log axes. A full set of third‐party laboratory test certificates are provided in the Supporting Information.