PFAS (polyfluoroalkyl substances) are synthetic chemical compounds that have multiple fluorine atoms attached to an alkyl chain. A subgroup, the fluorinated surfactants, are highly effective at reducing the surface tension of water, versus comparable hydrocarbon-based surfactants.
Because of the above-described “useful” properties, PFAS was (and still is in many cases) widely used in manufacturing of many products, including human consumption products such as non-stick cookware, disposable plates, cups, bowls, eating utensils, food packaging, and other products that benefit from the non-stick / easy slip properties of PFAS such as various forms of paper and packaging, ski wax, stain and water resistant coatings for such things as carpeting and clothing, polishes, waxes, certain paints, pesticides, and herbicides. Some of the predominant manufacturers of PFAS and its many variants are 3M, Typco Fire Products, National Foam, Buckeye Fire Protection, Chemguard, Du Pont De Nemours, and The Chemours Company. PFAS is still in production and use today. Saratoga Biochar is diametrically opposed to the manufacture and broad use of PFAs/PFOAs).
Traces of PFAS, and its many variants, are routinely found in biosolids because the material has passed through human bodies. PFAS is detectable in nearly every human in the industrialized world today because PFAS has been so broadly used in food preparation, packaging, and consumption products for decades. Occasionally, where a PFAS manufacturer or a manufacturer that uses PFAS in the making of products has released PFAS directly to a wastewater treatment facility, the biosolids from such wastewater treatment facilities have much higher levels of detectable PFAS. As demonstrated in Maine, such instances are highly unfortunate and a driving reason behind Saratoga Biochar’s relentless quest to fix the problem.
Risk assessments by states (ME, NH, NY, VT, etc.) have determined that direct contact, inhalation, or ingestion of typical biosolids and other recycled residuals pose no significant health risk, including from the traces of PFAS they contain. Typical levels of PFAS in modern biosolids are ~20 times less than the most stringent direct contact standard for soils, which is 600 ppb for PFOA and 440 ppb for PFOS for industrial site use in NYS. Only in a few worst-case scenarios have wastewater and biosolids been implicated in PFAS water contamination at levels of concern (e.g., near or above 70 ppt in water). These rare cases are where there have been ongoing discharges to sewers or the environment from industrial facilities or fire-fighting foam waste materials manufactured with significant volumes of PFAS. In response to these rare situations, PFAS levels in wastewater and biosolids have been reduced efficiently by investigating industries discharging to the sewer system and stopping their discharges through industrial pretreatment requirements and other source controls.
PFAS and many other harmful contaminants end up in the human food chain when biosolids are directly applied to agricultural lands, used as a dried fertilizer, or used as compost to grow food. This occurs in New York and many other states where the use of “biosolids as fertilizer is permissible. Saratoga Biochar is opposed to this practice and offers the best possible alternative – to remediate contaminants from biosolids through thermal treatment to avoid spreading PFAS and other contaminants.