Ex-Situ Treatment: Surface Active Foam Fractionation (SAFF®)

Surface Activation Foam Fractionation (SAFF®)

Our Enviro division is now know as EPOC Enviro. Please visit our new webpage for more information.

EPOC’s SAFF® Systems range in size from small household units able to process several hundred litres of contaminated water a day to large commercial units able to process hundreds of thousands of litres per day.

The SAFF® process is a portable, containerised, continuous water treatment system which utilises the natural physiochemistry of PFAS compounds to adhere to fine air bubbles rising through a narrow water column. As the bubbles rise they are exceptionally effective in collecting PFAS compounds which are loosely bound to the water molecules.

The PFAS compounds accumulate at the top of the column as a rich foam which the SAFF® system detects and automatically vacuums off and separates. As the water flows through hundreds of interconnected SAFF® columns within the system, any PFAS is progressively stripped out and the water is very effectively polished down to drinking water standards.

The relatively low volume of PFAS concentrate which the system produces is split off from the clean water and directed to a low-pressure evaporation process which further distills and reduces the waste stream to create a PFAS hyper-concentrate. For every megalitre of water treated the SAFF® system produces only a few litres of hyper-concentrate thereby dramatically reducing overall disposal costs.