Durham company creates unit that can destroy PFAS, other contaminants from water

A Durham company is aiming to revolutionize wastewater treatment by destroying harmful contaminants, including "forever chemicals."

Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of chemicals used to make coatings on products from non-stick frying pans to stain-resistant carpet. They can accumulate in the environment and humans' bodies and can be dangerous to human health. They are called forever chemicals because they can take centuries to break down.

Kobe Nagar, CEO of 374Water, says his company is taking aim at these forever chemicals and other problem pollutants such as microplastics with a new method to destroy them.

"We want to have the ability not just to filter and separate them, which we think is just sequestering the problem," Nagar said. "We want to be the ones that are pushing technologies that can break it down and take it out of our ecosystem."

374Water created its first commercial supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) unit using a process first developed at Duke University almost 10 years ago.

"We got this very fringe technology intended to treat chemical warfare and we brought it into the sanitation market," said Nagar, who was also an engineer at Duke.

The AirSCWO 6 unit can process up to six tons per day and works using pressure and heat above 705 degrees Farenheit to break down organic waste into clean water, energy, and minerals.

Sanitation officials in Orange County, California purchased the company’s first commercial unit to process some of its wastewater biosolids and food waste that normally end up in landfills.

"Once you put this type of organic waste in a landfill, it creates methane," Nagar said. "So, our unit can cut down on greenhouse gas emissions."

Methane is about 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide in planet-warming power, according to the EPA.

Nagar says the units can process any organic waste, including animal waste and landfill leachate.

The Orange County district's board of directors approved the project in 2021 at a cost of $8.7 million. In addition to the Board of Directors’ budget allocation, lawmakers Sen. Alex Padilla and Rep. Lou Correa announced they’d successfully earmarked $3.45 million in support of the project in December.

The announcement came about 6 months after the Environmental Protection Agency lowered the drinking water standard for forever chemicals to near zero levels, associating exposure with immune and infertility issues and some forms of cancer.

"We actually figured out a solution that can break down those carbon fluorine bonds and make them into a product that is safe ... the fluoride salts that you find in toothpaste," Nagar said.

The company hopes to make its products more cost-effective by scaling up the processing capacity of its units to 30 and 200 tons per day.