ALASKA: EPSCoR-supported company wins EPA Challenge
Aquagga, Inc., an EPSCoR-supported UAF spin-out company recently won first place in the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Innovative Ways to Destroy PFAS Challenge.” The team won $40,000 and the opportunity to further develop a process that combines high temperatures, high pressure and oxygen to dispose of PFAS-contaminated-waste. Aquagga received startup funding from EPSCoR via the Alaska Technology R&D Center.
This challenge is focused on identifying ways to destroy PFAS in concentrated aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) because of its high concentration of PFAS and widespread use to fight fires. The challenge sought detailed plans for non-thermal technologies that showed the potential to destroy at least 99 percent of PFAS in unused AFFF – without creating harmful byproducts and using temperatures significantly lower than temperatures required for incineration.
The first place and two second place challenge winners will now have the opportunity to submit their winning design concepts to DoD’s SERDP/ESTCP programs for further testing.
On May 13, EPA, DoD, and state agency partners from the ECOS Environmental Research Institute of the States, Michigan, and Colorado announced the winners of the “Innovative Ways to Destroy PFAS Challenge.”
“The innovative technologies developed by the challenge winners will help reduce exposure to PFAS and reduce the impacts of these chemicals on the environment,” said Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta, Acting Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Research and Development. “This challenge is the latest step EPA has taken to help address the effects of PFAS on human health and the environment.”
For more information, read the press release here.