PFAS-Selective Single-Use Resin Provides Benefits for PFAS Removal Over Granular Activated Carbon

Ion exchange resins are well known and established in the treatment of groundwater and potable water for removal of a number of contaminants. Specialized anion resins, in particular, are currently used to remove nitrate, chromium VI, perchlorate, uranium, TOC and arsenic from millions (if not billions) of gallons of drinking water each day.

The latest development in this market is Purofine^TM PFA694E, a PFAS-selective anion resin for single-use systems (non-regenerable).

While granular activated carbon (GAC) was the best immediate technology available when PFAS first became a concern, there is now extensive lab-, pilot- and full-scale data indicating that Purofine PFA694E resin provides the most effective removal and best cost performance for PFAS treatment. 

Purofine PFA694E is effective for treating all types of source water, including ground water, surface water, waste effluent, stormwater, landfill leachate and industrial plant effluent— and lowers the operational costs per 1,000 gallons of water treated.

Advantages of Purofine PFA694E resin include:

Shorter Empty Bed Contact Time Required

• Typically 2 – 3 minutes per vessel, vs. 10+ minutes per vessel recommended for GAC
• This translates into smaller vessels and less media required to treat the same flow rate

• Treats 10x – 20x the number of bed volumes (BVs) as GAC, depending on inlet water quality and treated water targets 
• This translates to more time between media change-outs of the lead vessels, reducing operating costs
• Able to remove single PFAS species, as well as simultaneously remove multiple short- and long-chain PFAS species to non-detect levels —including PFOA, PFOS, PFNA, PFHxA, PFHxS, PFHpA, PFBS and PFBA.

Ecolab has developed a performance model for Purofine PFA694E to enable accurate projections for the number of BVs a system can safely handle until lead vessel changed-out. All that is needed is data on inlet PFAS and background water chemistry (primary anions and TOC).

• Determines ROI and system efficiency
• Eliminates the need for lengthy pilot tests