Full-scale Hazardous Waste Incineration of PFAS in Fluorotelomer-Based Aqueous Film-Forming Foam
7 affiliations
- 1Environment RU, CSIRO, Waite Campus, Urrbrae, SA, Australia, 5064
- 2Department of Chemistry
- 3Colorado State University
- 4Thomé-Kozmiensky Verlag GmbH
- 5BASF SE
- 6Division 4.4
- 7Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung
Abstract
In the absence of full-scale incineration studies into the impacts of temperature on thermal destruction of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), globally evolving regulatory guidelines have been inconsistent. In this study, we incinerated a fluorotelomerization-based aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) concentrate at different temperatures and feed rates of up to 1500 kg/h in one of the largest hazardous waste incinerators in the world. At secondary combustion chamber temperatures as low as 950 °C and 2 seconds gas residence time, the destruction and removal efficiency for the main AFFF component 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonamide alkylbetaine (6:2 FTAB, a.k.a. Capstone B) exceeded 99.999999% at the highest AFFF feed rate. Non-polar volatile fluorinated compounds targeted by Other Test Method 50 (OTM-50) were below method detection limits, while PFAS concentrations in ashes and scrubber waters were practically indistinguishable from baseline conditions when no fluorine-containing waste was incinerated. PFAS stack emissions into the atmosphere during AFFF treatment were substantially lower than volatile PFAS emissions from a typical landfill. Quantum chemical modeling suggested that a similar treatment efficiency may be expected for perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS)-based electrochemical fluorination foams. The findings of our study suggest that hazardous waste incineration may be effective at temperatures well below the 1100 °C required by some current regulations, minimizing fuel consumption, equipment wear, and undesirable side reactions during thermal PFAS destruction.
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BibTeX
@misc{blotevogel2026fullscale,
title = {{Full-scale Hazardous Waste Incineration of PFAS in Fluorotelomer-Based Aqueous Film-Forming Foam}},
author = {Jens Blotevogel and Wenchao Lu and Anthony K. Rappé and Olaf Holm and Marco Gross and Peter Leube and Christian Vogel},
howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv.15008894/v1},
url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15008894/v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Full-scale Hazardous Waste Incineration of PFAS in Fluorotelomer-Based Aqueous Film-Forming Foam
AU - Jens Blotevogel
AU - Wenchao Lu
AU - Anthony K. Rappé
AU - Olaf Holm
AU - Marco Gross
AU - Peter Leube
AU - Christian Vogel
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/16
PB - ChemRxiv
DO - 10.26434/chemrxiv.15008894/v1
UR - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15008894/v1
AB - In the absence of full-scale incineration studies into the impacts of temperature on thermal destruction of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), globally evolving regulatory guidelines have been inconsistent. In this study, we incinerated a fluorotelomerization-based aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) concentrate at different temperatures and feed rates of up to 1500 kg/h in one of the largest hazardous waste incinerators in the world. At secondary combustion chamber temperatures as low as 950 °C and 2 seconds gas residence time, the destruction and removal efficiency for the main AFFF component 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonamide alkylbetaine (6:2 FTAB, a.k.a. Capstone B) exceeded 99.999999% at the highest AFFF feed rate. Non-polar volatile fluorinated compounds targeted by Other Test Method 50 (OTM-50) were below method detection limits, while PFAS concentrations in ashes and scrubber waters were practically indistinguishable from baseline conditions when no fluorine-containing waste was incinerated. PFAS stack emissions into the atmosphere during AFFF treatment were substantially lower than volatile PFAS emissions from a typical landfill. Quantum chemical modeling suggested that a similar treatment efficiency may be expected for perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS)-based electrochemical fluorination foams. The findings of our study suggest that hazardous waste incineration may be effective at temperatures well below the 1100 °C required by some current regulations, minimizing fuel consumption, equipment wear, and undesirable side reactions during thermal PFAS destruction.
ER -