There are more than 2000 sites in Australia that are contaminated with “forever chemicals” which have been linked to cancer.
There has been growing international attention on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in recent years, with these chemicals found everywhere from drinking water sources to in personal care products.
PFAS are a group of thousands of manufactured chemicals which have been used in industry and consumer products for nearly a century.
These chemicals break down very slowly and can build up in humans, animals and the environment, such as in drinking water, soil or waste near waste sites, at manufacturing or chemical production facilities and in food.
The United States’ Environmental Protection Agency’s new strategic road for PFAS found that there is no safe level of contamination in drinking water marked a major step forward in addressing the issue, with regulatory bodies now moving to require the mitigation of contamination.
In Australia, the NSW government appears to be set to be the first jurisdiction to test most of its drinking water for PFAS, after water with over 50 times the safe guidelines for the chemicals was found to be flowing into a Blue Mountains dam.
With increasingly strict regulations around the removal of PFAS, there is growing demand around the world for an efficient solution to do this in a healthy and cost-effective manner.
That’s where publicly-listed chemical industry firm SciDev comes into the equation.
The NSW-based firm has developed FluroflX, a suite of water treatment technologies that can remove harmful contaminants such as PFAS from groundwater, surface water and industrial liquid waste, to improve health outcomes and assist companies to meet new regulations.
SciDev designs, constructs and operates water treatment plants that are able to treat water impacted by PFAS to meet the most stringent standards around the country, removing the contaminant below the limits of reporting.
This allows the treated water to be recycled, reused or discharged safely into the environment.
SciDev’s FluroflX is a finalist in the InnovationAus 2024 Awards for Excellence in the Manufacturing Innovation category. The InnovationAus Awards for Excellence winners and finalists will be celebrated at a black-tie gala dinner at The Venue Alexandria in Sydney on Wednesday October 30. You can book your tickets here.
The solution was developed by SciDev’s Water Technologies branch in response to the long-standing issue of PFAS contamination in the industry.
The company is offering what is currently the only viable technology to treat large volumes of PFAS-contaminated water to below a reportable level, in a way that is also sustainable and commercially-viable.
SciDev’s offering is based in mobile and modular systems, meaning they can be quickly deployed to contaminated sites. They can then be instantaneously reconfigured to treat the contaminated site.
The company has now successfully treated over seven billion litres of PFAS-contaminated water across 30 sites in Australia.
The need for SciDev’s technology is already significant in Australia, and rapidly growing.
More than 2,000 sites have been identified around the country as being PFAS-contaminated, and there are potentially thousands more which will be uncovered in the future. In the US, there are 55,000 identified contaminated sites estimated to be worth $200 billion.
The water treatment chemical solution market was valued at $37.5 billion in 2022, and this has grown substantially in the two years since.
Looking for brand exposure in front of Australia’s tech ecosystem? Purchase a table of 10 for the InnovationAus 2024 Awards for Excellence and have your logo displayed on screens across the venue and in the event programme as a table sponsor.
The InnovationAus 2024 Awards for Excellence are supported by the Australian Computer Society, Investment NSW, Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Technology Council of Australia, TechnologyOne, National Artificial Intelligence Centre, CSIRO’s ON Innovation Program, Reason Group, Q-CTRL, University of New South Wales, South by South West Sydney and IP Australia.
Protecting your great ideas with intellectual property (IP) rights can lead to lasting benefits for your growing business. IP refers to creations of the mind, such as a brand, logo, invention, design or artistic work. Head to the IP Australia website to find out more about IP, and how it might help your business.
Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.