Date
Monday, July 20, 2026
Time
2:30 PM - 3:00 PM
Location Name
Room 10, Level 2
Name
Advanced PFAS Regeneration: Centralized Treatment
Track
Drinking Water Emerging Issues
Description

Communities across the United States are grappling with the implementation of newly established Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water, posing significant operational and financial challenges for utilities and municipalities. As regulatory thresholds become more stringent, conventional treatment technologies often fall short in delivering both compliance and long-term sustainability, driving the urgent need for innovative solutions that are not only effective at PFAS removal but also offer regenerable and environmentally responsible treatment options. This shift underscores the importance of advanced, sustainable water purification methods that minimize waste, extend material lifecycles, and reduce the overall footprint of PFAS remediation efforts. Kurita and Cyclopure are constructing a centralized regeneration facility for large-scale handling of spent DEXSORB® media following a PFAS treatment cycle. DEXSORB, made from renewable β-cyclodextrins, was developed for selective removal of PFAS in drinking and non-drinking water environments. Providing rapid kinetics and high treatment capacities, this molecular selectivity can be easily reversed to fully recover extracted PFAS. Effective PFAS desorption from spent media not only enables sustainable media reuse but is uniquely beneficial for concentration of PFAS waste for cost-effective destruction. DEXSORB regeneration is performed under ambient conditions involving multiple up-flow wash cycles. The centralized facility implements a closed-loop system for the collection of spent DEXSORB media, regeneration and redeployment of regenerated DEXSORB media, and concentration of PFAS waste. This enables efficient downstream destruction while minimizing environmental impact and disposal volume by achieving concentration factors up to 500,000x. In a recent case study, the Cyclopure team successfully demonstrated pilot-scale regeneration of spent DEXSORB media from a drinking water treatment project in Massachusetts. The influent groundwater treated contained total PFAS concentration of 25 ppt. Spent media, loaded into a regeneration vessel, was subjected to ten regeneration cycles. Each cycle involved recirculation of an ethanol–water–salt regeneration solution in up-flow mode for one hour under ambient conditions. Mass balance calculations confirmed a PFAS recovery rate of 97% following the ten-cycle regeneration process. Residual PFAS in regenerated media accounted for only 0.0000164% by mass. The regenerated media demonstrated equivalent PFAS removal performance to first-use DEXSORB, validating its stability and effectiveness for multiple treatment cycles. The spent regeneration solution containing concentrated PFAS (150 ppb) was processed by distillation to recover clean solution for reuse, while the concentrated still-bottom waste was transferred to a certified incineration facility, that provided a certificate of destruction for PFAS. This approach delivers an advanced cradle-to-grave technology solution, minimizing environmental impact and optimizing the lifecycle cost-effectiveness of PFAS remediation infrastructure through repeated material regeneration and reuse. The demonstration of equal performance between first-use media and regenerated media confirms the reversible nature of PFAS adsorption in DEXSORB, preserving the high degree of selectivity and capacity in treatment.