Removing PFAS from sewage in WWTP using SAFF with Peter Murphy Epoc Enviro Australia - Episode 50

Welcome back to Talking PFAS podcast, and if you are listening for the first time, a very big welcome to you.  I am a journalist, and your host Kayleen Bell, and this is a Sunrise Sound Productions podcast.

Due to widespread presence of PFAS globally, wastewater treatment plants have become a sink for PFAS.  That is because PFAS resist degradation by conventional wastewater treatment processes and are usually adsorbed to sewage sludge and biosolids. There have been significant concerns that land application of sewage sludge and biosolids could become a probable pathway for PFAS to enter the food chain. The widespread land application of biosolids as fertiliser may represent a risk from factors such as subsequent PFAS leaching to groundwater, uptake to crops used for food or animal feed, and resulting accumulation in terrestrial and aquatic organisms. As such PFAS in biosolids present major challenges to municipalities that are generating biosolids but are passive receivers of upstream sources of PFAS.  Removing PFAS from the wastewater treatment plants remains a significant challenge.

My guest today is Peter Murphy Managing Director of Australian environmental engineering company EPOC Enviro.  Peter is an environmental scientist, and lawyer, who has worked for more than 35 years in the environmental clean-up and remediation space.

And Peter has discussed SAFF technology and foam fractionation in detail in the podcast before.  I will put a link to those episodes in the show notes.  Today we will be discussing EPOC Enviro’s latest use of their SAFF technology in a current trial to remove PFAS from wastewater within a wastewater treatment plant in Australia. The location of this trial can not be revealed at this time.

Show Notes:

I hope you enjoyed today’s episode.  As mentioned in today’s episode I will be bringing you more about this topic in future episodes of Talking PFAS.  Meanwhile please see the links mentioned in today’s episode.

Episode 47 Talking PFAS Podcast: Interview with Peter Murphy from EPOC Enviro 04/07/2025 discussing SAFF foam fractionation.

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/talkingpfas/id1434997639?i=1000715666985

Episode 43 Talking PFAS Podcast: Interview with Peter Murphy from EPOC Enviro 26/04/2023

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/talkingpfas/id1434997639?i=1000610713390

EPOC Enviro

https://epocenviro.com/applications/sewage/

1. Saliu, T.D. & Sauvé, S. (2024), A review of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in biosolids: geographical distribution and regulations

Journal: Frontiers in Environmental Chemistry

Published: June 2024

DOI: 10.3389/fenvc.2024.1383185

In other PFAS News, CRC Care’s International Clean Up Conference, is being held in Adelaide shortly from the 13-17 September.  As usual there are multiple PFAS sessions listed in their program and I will be attending as many of these as I can to learn what is new.  I hope to interview some speakers at this conference for future episodes of Talking PFAS. If you have found value in this podcast please subscribe so you don’t miss an episode and also I would be grateful if you would share it with friends or colleagues. 

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