A solution for PFAS: Read article

... A SOLUTION FOR PFAS

A BOND THAT LASTS FOREVER

Things couldn’t be better: chemical company Chemours is ordering more than ever before. The company aims to use even more efficient selective ion exchangers to filter out larger amounts of the “forever chemical” PFAS from wastewater. Sales employees Bart Goossens and Dirk Steinhilber, Application Technology Manager, are initially enthusiastic about the idea – but also cautiously skeptical: “Will it really work? Can we increase the surface area of the ion exchangers enough for them to absorb more PFAS? That remains to be seen.” But of course they’re on board.

They then discuss the concept with colleagues from the Research, Application Technology, and Production departments. Together, they look for practical solutions – both for their major customer and for LPT. To increase the surface area of the polymer beads, they must be made smaller. “One thing we asked ourselves was whether the beads would still be stable enough to allow the wastewater to pass through them,” says Steinhilber. The business unit had already gained experience with fine-bead ion exchangers in chloralkali electrolysis, however. Here, the little beads had worked well. So the teams in the laboratories in Bitterfeld and Leverkusen got started right away and reported back after a very short time: “When the diameter of the polymer beads is reduced from 0.6 mm to 0.4 mm, they can bind twice as much PFAS.” As a result, they only produce half as much waste and are more environmentally friendly. These PFAS-selective ion exchangers from the laboratory were then sent to the customer for testing. “They were very impressed and immediately ordered three batches,” says Steinhilber. This quantity now needed to be delivered as quickly as possible. In April, Chemours underwent an audit with an environmental authority in the Netherlands. As regulations on PFAS filtration are becoming increasingly stringent there too, the customer wanted the audit to demonstrate that it is successfully working on new solutions to the PFAS problem.

India Was Immediately Ready to Go
The LPT team got right to work: “We manufactured the pure polymer beads in Bitterfeld and then flew them to Jhagadia,” explains Steinhilber. Five multidisciplinary teams worked on the process together in a highly agile manner. The Indian team was ready to go as soon as the polymers arrived. It treated them chemically, applied PFAS-selective groups, and flew them back. The three batches arrived at the beginning of January. “That was an amazing achievement by our logistics team,” says Lisa Demes, Global Segment Head Specialized Water. The majority went to Chemours in the Netherlands, and the rest were sent to other interested customers as samples. “The feedback we received was quite promising.” But even more important was whether the large batch worked as well as the laboratory sample. Chemours confirmed that this was the case and even reported that they were able to treat more than double the amount of wastewater as initially expected. The customer was extremely satisfied and expressed – without being asked – that the beads from LPT were superior to those from our competitors. The fact that the LPT team accommodated Chemours’ wishes on many levels certainly contributed to this positive feedback. Within a span of only ten months from the initial idea for these ion exchangers to the delivery of the batches, everything went smoothly. And the customer received them before their audit.

At the moment, Europe is the driving force pushing the PFAS issue. “We see a great deal of potential here for our PFAS-selective ion exchangers,” says Demes. The current major customer is eager to ensure that we can deliver reliably over the long term. Because of this, the BU would prefer to relocate the entire production of the beads to Bitterfeld. “That would make logistics much easier,” says Demes.

Revenue Rose Sharply
This new product, Lewapole® TP 108, won the grand prize at the Innovation Awards. It perfectly embodies the spirit of the Innovation Award: An existing product was quickly improved to meet customer requirements and can now generate several times the average LANXESS margin. Chemours and LPT worked closely together to achieve this. Revenue increased significantly thanks to the new product, and further customers have already expressed interest. All that remains to be said is that things really couldn’t have gone any better.