Rutherford PFAS Contaminated Groundwater Treatment

SciDev were contracted through Suez and Environmental Treatment Solutions (ETS) to design a temporary solution to capture and treat any contaminated surface water runoff on the Truegain site. The site was formerly an oil refinery, with a known source of hydrocarbons, oil and per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The site was inactive from 2016 with no management or containment of leaking storage tanks or hazardous run-off water into the local environment.

The project presented several challenging criteria including:

1. Utilising remote monitoring and minimisation of on-site personnel, to capture on-site water.
2. Managing and treat wastewater with varying concentrations of PFAS, hydrocarbons and oil, resulting in a batch treatment methodology process to pre-treat the contaminated water before the filtration process.
3. Providing a cost-effective treatment solution off-site

Summary

• Provide a temporary solution to manage the discharge of contaminated water into the local environment.
• Manage and treat wastewater in batches due to varying concentrations of PFAS, hydrocarbons and oils.
• Addition of powdered activated carbon for the removal of oils, hydrocarbons and organics, as well as the removal of some PFAS contamination (Long-chain sulfonic acids).
• Coagulation and flocculation for the removal of total suspended solids and clarification.
• pH adjustment to improve filtration efficiency and efficacy.