Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks, Alaska experienced an unplanned release of 30,000 gallons of wastewater containing concentrated PFAS, and the Air Force Civil Engineer Center sought a system that could demonstrate the ability to rapidly address this immediate concern and potentially be applied to other PFAS releases or Investigation Derived Waste (IDW) waters containing PFAS.
Ahtna Engineering subcontracted ECT2 to deliver a system capable of treating the 30,000 gallons of PFAS-contaminated water collected during the release, deployable by truck, and adaptable enough to address future water treatment requirements, the nature of which were difficult to define. The treated effluent discharge location was a small ditch and had to meet the stringent Alaska Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (APDES) requirements of 70 parts per trillion (ppt) for PFOA + PFOS + PFNA + PFHxS + PFHpA + PFBS.
ECT2’s T Series IDW Treatment System is designed as a transportable system, containing the company’s SORBIXTM ion exchange resins, and was fabricated in a Conex shipping container in Maine then shipped to Alaska. When the ECT2 team arrived on site to implement the system, and assist and train the local team, it was discovered that the tanks in which the PFAS-contaminated water was stored were themselves highly contaminated with a petroleum residual. The ECT2 team worked with local personnel to develop a pre-treatment strategy to protect the SORBIX resins and meet Alaska’s stringent environmental requirements. The 30,000 gallons of water were successfully treated to below the APDES requirements and the client continues to use the system to address PFAS issues across the base for other contaminated sources including IDW.
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