TRS provides in situ and ex situ heating solutions for the remediation of PFAS in soil. In fact, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded TRS a patent for our
thermal conduction heating (TCH) for PFAS in soil treatment solutions. Further, our patent-pending FlexHeater® TCH services can reduce PFAS concentrations by more than 99.99%.
Our patented process involves heating the impacted soils, in situ or ex situ, to temperatures between 300 and 650°C and maintaining the elevated temperatures for up to two weeks. The process is safe and remarkably effective.
Projects
In 2023, the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) awarded TRS its third thermal desorption of PFAS in soil treatment project, this one at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson (JBER) in Anchorage, Alaska. We treated 2,000 cubic yards of soil at the ex-situ remediation project, completing operations in September 2024.
The DoD, through its Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP), previously awarded TRS and its collaborators two projects, each focused on the
thermal treatment of PFAS-impacted soil: in situ thermal treatment in the vadose zone and ex situ treatment of soil piles.
Thermal Treatment of PFAS in Soil – TRS applied its FlexHeater® TCH service to soil at a fire training site at Beale Air Force Base to reduce PFOA and PFOS levels below U.S. EPA RSLs (126 μg/kg). View the case study
PFAS Removal from a Soil Stockpile Using TCH – TRS used its FlexHeater® TCH service to remove PFOA and PFOS to below detection limits in the middle of an Alaskan
winter. View the case study
Accelerated Federal Contracting
As mentioned above, the DoD’s ESTCP, working with the DoD’s DIU, funded TRS to apply its TCH technology to thermally desorb PFAS from a 2,000-cubic yard soil pile at JBER. The ESTCP project number is ER23-8369; the DIU contract number is HQ00342390007.
TRS’s contractual obligation was to achieve an average soil pile temperature of 400°C with no sensor below 350°C; the actual average was 620°C with no sensor below 433°C.
To provide accelerated delivery of commercial technology solutions across DoD, DIU launched the Commercial Solutions Catalog, an acquisition mechanism that
enables the Federal government to procure services in a collaborative, expedited, cost-saving manner. Once TRS receives DIU’s Success Memo, any Federal agency will be able to sole source PFAS thermal desorption projects to TRS. You can find out more about the DIU program here.
Additional PFAS Remediation Resources
- PFAS Removal from a Soil Stockpile Using Thermal Conduction Heating (case study)
- Impacts of EPA Regulating PFOA and PFOS as CERCLA Hazardous Substances (webinar recording)
- A Letter from the North Pole: The Gift of PFAS Removal (article)
- PFAS thermal treatment evaluation (peer-reviewed article published in Remediation Journal)
- FlexHeater® service achieves 99% reduction of PFAS in soil (article)
- Bench Test: Thermal Remediation of PFAS Compounds (case study)
- How to design and remediate a PFAS source zone (webinar recording)