Element Six (E6), a developer and manufacturer of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond solutions, and Lummus Technology, a provider of process technologies and value-driven energy solutions, announced an exclusive global partnership that they expect will leverage a unique solution to address the worldwide challenge of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) destruction.

“Destroying and eliminating PFAS from water is an important global challenge—a challenge that Lummus and Element Six fully embrace and can help address,” says Leon de Bruyn, president and chief executive officer of Lummus Technology. “By combining our technologies, we are uniquely positioned to offer efficient, scalable and viable methods to destroy these chemicals, safeguarding public health and protecting our environment for future generations.”

PFAS are a large range of synthetic fluorinated organic compounds that have been produced and widely used in industrial applications and consumer products since the 1930s. Commonly referred to as "forever chemicals," PFAS do not naturally break down in the environment and can cause serious health problems in high exposure cases, including cancer, decreased immunity and infertility. Consequently, government agencies across the world including in the U.S., UK, Europe, Australia and the Middle East are taking steps to regulate these compounds’ presence in drinking water and everyday consumer products.

This partnership combines Element Six’s patented boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrochemical oxidation technology with Lummus’ patented electro-oxidation technology and system integration for water and wastewater treatment. Lummus and Element Six have tested their combined technologies using free-standing BDD electrodes, which they say resulted in successful destruction of long and short chain PFAS. Free-standing BDD electrodes, as opposed to metal electrodes plated with BDD, enable the high current densities that destroy short-chain PFAS.

Lummus and Element Six say they are already making progress with customers to address numerous real-life applications leveraging this novel BDD electrochemical oxidation technology.