In 2024, TRS completed its first commercial AFFF cleanout and PFAS treatment with PerfluorAd. TRS has now performed clean outs at several major airports. 

The Port of Seattle Fire Department at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, working with TRS, is the first airport in the US to use the PerfluorAd^TM process to remove and thoroughly clean AFFF from all its aircraft rescue and
firefighting vehicles.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has designated some common per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) compounds as hazardous substances, regulated under CERCLA. While the environmental community has focused on reducing the exposure risks associated with PFAS-impacted groundwater, most of the contaminant mass remains in the soil column.

As regulatory agencies will soon prohibit the use of aqueous film forming foam (AFFF), fire fighters, especially at airports, have begun the transition to foams without per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). In this article we discuss issues related to the transition.

TRS recently compared the effectiveness of triple-rinse (three rinses of the AFFF tank using potable water only) to rinsing with a PerfluorAd^TM solution.

Applying the PerfluorAd^TM process at a major, west coast, international airport in July 2022, TRS, with EFI Global, Inc., performed a clean-out of AFFF on a firefighting vehicle.

TRS Group treated five firefighting vehicles at the Eastern Connecticut Fire School in Willimantic, cleaning each in less than five days. The cleanouts involved several rinsing cycles using warm PerfluorAd and water. Additionally, we treated the rinsate using flocculation and granular activated charcoal, producing a total of less than 50 gallons of waste.

TRS Group recently completed the first commercial application of the PerfluorAd^TM technology in North America, cleaning out aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) impacted firefighting equipment for the State of Connecticut.

We anticipate an early present this year in North Pole, Alaska, just a sleigh ride away from Eielson Air Force Base, where TRS Group is applying its patented FlexHeater® thermal remediation services to remove PFAS from an ex-situ soil stockpile.

Currently, our R&D team is working on reducing the costs of our patented thermal treatment of PFAS system and our patent-pending FlexHeater® thermal conduction heating services.

In 2012, TRS began a search for European business partners to help with the expansion of our in situ thermal remediation services. Shortly thereafter, TRS and our partners formed the European Thermal Alliance, which included Cornelsen Umwelttechnologie GmbH implementing projects in Germany.

Developed by Cornelsen GmbH, TRS Group’s partner in Essen, Germany, the PerfluorAd^TM system is an ideal technology for cleaning out fire suppression systems, including trucks, storage vessels, hoses and piping.

Cornelsen in Germany has granted TRS the exclusive license in North America for applying the patented PerfluorAd^TM technology to clean out fire suppression systems impacted by PFAS found in aqueous film forming foams (AFFF).

Airports, municipalities, industrial facilities, the Department of Defense and others have made enormous investments in aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) fire suppression systems. As these foams often contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), using the fire suppression equipment can result in contaminating soil and groundwater.

The PerfluorAd^TM system is ideal for cleaning out fire-fighting systems, such as trucks, storage vessels, hoses and piping, impacted by aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) that contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

There is an increasing interest in identifying solutions to remove PFAS from vadose zone soils for the protection of groundwater at sites throughout the United States. While much of the current effort focuses on mitigating the environmental liability’s risk by treating groundwater, removing PFAS sources will reduce costs and is far more sustainable than running pump and treat systems indefinitely.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has awarded TRS Group, Inc. (TRS) a patent for the thermal treatment of per‐and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in soil (Oberle, D and E. Crownover, 2020). The patented process uses heaters to raise soil temperatures to desorb and volatilize PFAS.

TRS developed a thermal remediation technique for the treatment of semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs), including coal tar, mercury, PCBs and perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in soil.

PFAS, a component of aqueous film forming foam, is different than the contaminants we have been treating for the last 30 years. We discuss how this affects our solutions.