What happens to PFAS in a Waste-to-Energy process?

🤝 This work was conducted in collaboration with IVL Svenska Miljöinstitutet. The project was among IVL's first research initiatives focused specifically on PFAS in flue gases and combined laboratory analyses, process expertise, and scientific interpretation from both organizations.

📅 Although the publication is recent, the experimental campaign was conducted in 2024. At the time, knowledge of PFAS behaviour in flue gas treatment systems was still much more limited than for water and soil environments. The subsequent analytical work, data interpretation, manuscript preparation, and peer-review process required time before these results could be shared with the wider community.

🔬 Key findings include:
• Approximately 70% of the semi-volatile PFAS measured in the flue gas were captured within the flue gas treatment system, resulting in low stack emissions.
• The study improved our understanding of PFAS distribution throughout the Waste-to-Energy process and highlighted the importance of considering all transfer pathways, including water treatment streams.

📊 The work also showed that the available analytical methods were not sufficient to fully close the PFAS mass balance. To address this challenge, the paper proposes complementary sampling and analytical approaches that should be considered in future investigations.

🚀 Additional studies are currently underway to investigate PFAS behaviour in other treatment processes and industrial configurations. Stay tuned for more results.

📖 Read the full study HERE

We would like to thank all the teams involved in this research Jane Abi Aad, François Vuong, Johan Strandberg, Jana Moldanova, Ioannis Liagkouridis and our partner, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, for their collaboration and valuable contributions throughout this project.