BioLargo’s PFAS Solution Provides Dramatic Long-Term Cost Savings

Source: Water Online https://www.wateronline.com/doc/biolargo-s-pfas-solution-provides-dramatic-long-term-cost-savings-0001

Case studies show the company’s innovative capture + destruction two-step approach can offer a scalable, economically feasible solution for PFAS elimination from drinking water, wastewater, and landfill leachate, capable of reducing lifecycle costs by over 80%

Westminster, CA – April 28, 2025 – BioLargo Equipment Solutions & Technologies, Inc., a provider of innovative technologies that address the toughest water treatment challenges, announced case study data establishing over 80% long-term lifecycle cost savings of its AEC (Aqueous Electrostatic Concentrator) PFAS solution that can capture and destroy PFAS contamination down to non-detect levels in drinking water, wastewater, and landfill leachate.

The over 80% reduction in lifecycle costs (i.e. costs from replacing filtration media or substrate over time, and disposing of waste) comes from a steep reduction of PFAS-laden waste generated by BioLargo’s AEC compared to carbon-based treatment systems, as well as lower replacement costs of BioLargo’s treatment materials.

Since the inception of federal and state regulations limiting PFAS levels in drinking water (see https://www.epa.gov/sdwa/and-polyfluoroalkyl-substances-pfas), incumbent technologies like granular activated carbon (GAC) and ion exchange resins have been found to carry substantial lifecycle costs driven by the ongoing requirement to replace media and the transportation and disposal of wastes resulting their use into landfills or incinerators. Pending regulations from the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) would increase transportation costs for PFAS-laden waste even further.

BioLargo’s AEC turns this paradigm on its head, with less ongoing media replacement, less waste, and ultimately total mineralization of that PFAS-laden waste using a separate electrochemical oxidation process.

BioLargo’s AEC works by exposing PFAS to an electrostatic field, forcing PFAS to be deposited onto a proprietary membrane material which can later be collected, stripped, and destroyed. Prior to destruction (after stripping the membrane material), BioLargo’s AEC generates as little as 1/40,000 the amount of PFAS-laden waste product  compared to a GAC-based treatment system. BioLargo then destroys that PFAS-laden waste completely with a high-efficiency electrochemical oxidation process that breaks the carbon-fluorine bond in PFAS, leaving only inert mineral salts after treatment.

The following graph reflects lifecycle costs of BioLargo’s AEC (in green) compared with a typical GAC-based system (blue). The AEC data were collected from trials with client-provided water and include ongoing costs for replacement membranes and costs to destroy the PFAS-laden waste via electro-oxidation. These costs reflect GAC pricing as of April 2025, and do not include costs associated with transporting or disposing of PFAS-laden waste, or other costs like taxes, fees, and capital costs.

Figure 1: Comparison of average lifecycle costs treating PFAS-contaminated drinking water with BioLargo AEC vs GAC, including costs to replace treatment media over time and cost of disposing of PFAS-laden waste. GAC cost information is estimated by combining information found in the US EPA's "Technologies and Costs for Removing Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) from Drinking Water" (https://www.regulations.gov/document/EPA-HQ-OW-2022-0114-3742) and quotes from GAC providers.

BioLargo tackles short-chain PFAS better than other technologies

Unlike GAC and ion exchange, BioLargo’s AEC does not suffer from breakthrough or channeling phenomena that can occur with filtration media based PFAS capture technologies especially with short chain PFAS. In addition to better capturing PFAS chemicals, BioLargo engineers expect this will further reduce maintenance costs due to reduced frequency of media change-outs.

“In circumstances where GAC is already installed at a treatment facility to remove other, non-PFAS contaminants, replacement of that GAC will need to be even more frequent to prevent PFAS breakthrough, given that there are a finite number of active sites in GAC to which PFAS can adsorb,” said Randall Moore, President of BioLargo’s engineering division.

“Waste equals cost,” said Tonya Chandler, President of BioLargo Equipment Solutions & Technologies. “We built the AEC specifically to capture PFAS efficiently onto small volumes of substrate. That means lower disposal costs, more affordable and less frequent maintenance, lower regulatory liability, and better, budget-friendly economics for utilities and municipalities trying to protect public health.”

She continued, “Notably, our studies have even shown that our two-step PFAS treatment process exhibits high removal efficiency with ultra-short PFAS, which are PFAS species less than four carbons in length that other PFAS treatment technologies have a very difficult time removing.”

In an era when the public is demanding safe drinking water and the federal government is stepping up enforcement on PFAS under CERCLA, BioLargo’s American-made technology offers a realistic path to addressing tough PFAS drinking water standards with less capital and operational costs than GAC and ion exchange technologies.

For more information, technical data, and visuals of the AEC system, visit www.biolargoequipment.com.