Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), often known as “forever chemicals,” present a profound and growing threat to public health and the environment. These synthetic chemicals, found in hundreds of everyday products such as nonstick cookware, firefighting foam, clothing, cleaning products, makeup and shampoo are notorious for their ability to never break down in the environment and accumulate in the human body.
NBOT Labs, in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has developed and validated what is considered to be the first scalable, versatile, and cost-effective solution for removing these harmful forever chemicals from the world’s water supply.
For decades, chemical companies covered up evidence of forever chemicals’ health hazards. Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) found forever chemicals in the blood of 97 percent of Americans and according to the Environmental Water Group (EWG) more than 200 million people may be drinking PFAS-tainted water. What began as a miracle of modern chemistry is now a national crisis. The health implications are dire, with PFAS exposure linked to severe conditions, including cancer, liver and thyroid disease, lung damage, and compromised immune systems. The resiliency of these chemicals, coupled with their widespread use, has developed into a crisis, contaminating water supplies worldwide and posing a ticking time bomb for ecological and human health.
The challenge of remediating forever chemicals lies in their chemical structure, particularly the carbon-fluorine (C-F) bonds, the strongest in organic chemistry. This is particularly due to the high electronegativity of fluorine, meaning it has an extremely high tendency to attract electrons towards itself. When bonded with carbon, this incredibly strong and stable bond is almost impossible to break down. While some methods can break down the carbon chains in PFAS, the difficulty of severing the fluorine bonds has left scientists searching for an effective, scalable, and cost-effective solution to tackle the full spectrum of contamination.
The severity of forever chemicals contamination has not gone unnoticed by regulatory agencies, but there has been very little action taken. The hazards of exposure to forever chemicals became widely known in a 1998 study released by 3M, yet many critics suggest the health hazards were kept hidden for more than fifty years. In 2019, the EPA issued guidelines for acceptable levels of PFAS in drinking water at 70 parts per trillion. In March 2023, in recognition of the increasing severity of PFAS contamination, the EPA has proposed regulations for allowable levels in water supplies at only 4 parts per trillion, but these new measures have yet to be implemented or enforced. These proposed regulations underscore the pressing need for innovative and effective remediation technologies, setting the stage for an imminent and coordinated action.
Scientists and researchers are actively seeking new methods to destroy PFAS, as existing remediation technologies and processes are largely ineffective at mass scale. Some of the most prominent solutions on the market today are granular activated carbon, ion exchange, resins, high-pressure membrane systems, and electron beam (E-beam) technology:
| Remediation Solution | Summary | Pros | Cons |
| Granular Activated Carbon | Physical filtration | – Effective at removing a wide range of compounds
– Cost-effective for large scale applications |
– May require frequent replacement or reactivation
– Can generate waste needing further treatment |
| Ion Exchange Resins | Utilizes resins to selectively remove PFAS compounds | – Highly effective for certain types of forever chemicals | – Can be expensive due to resin costs
– Limited selectivity for specific PFAS compounds |
| High-Pressure Membrane Systems | Physical filtration | – Efficiently removes a broad spectrum of PFAS compounds, including short-chain
|
– Not scalable, suitable for small amounts of water
– High operational and maintenance costs |
| Electron Beam | Employs high-energy electrons to generate reactive species for PFAS destruction | – Directly breaks down molecules without additional chemicals
– Capable of treating large volumes of water quickly – Effective against a wide range of compounds |
– Energy-intensive, requiring significant power input
– High initial infrastructure and operational costs – Safety and regulatory considerations due to the use of high-energy beams |
| NBOT | Ozonated nano-bubbles used as a catalyst in a process that destroys PFAS by removing fluorine from carbon-fluorine bond | – Versatile: Destroys all bacteria, algae and viruses (can address both known and emerging PFAS)
– Scalable: able to treat vast quantities of contaminated water – All natural: no chemical additives required – Low cost to implement |
– Optimization required: initial setup may be time intensive |
NBOT Labs, a trailblazer in the fight against forever chemicals with its Nano-Bubble Oxidation Technology (NBOT), has developed a groundbreaking technology that provides hope for a scalable, effective solution. By harnessing the power of oxygen and ozone gas injected into nano-bubbles, NBOT creates hydroxyl radicals, which are implemented as the key part of a patent pending process capable of breaking down PFAS compounds.
In a series of tests by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA leveraging this patent-pending process, PFAS concentrations were reduced by 99.9994%, from 3 million ppt down to non-detect levels.
Dr. Peter Moeller, Program Lead for Toxin/Natural Products Chemistry, Emerging Toxins at NOAA led this groundbreaking first round of research and stated: “Utilizing NBOT as a catalyst to destroy 99.9994% of PFAS in our recent tests has proven to be a remarkable advancement in the field of environmental chemistry. The ability of this technology to play a key role in efficiently breaking down PFAS compounds and removing fluorine from the Carbon-Fluorine bond, where traditional methods have failed, marks a significant milestone towards sustainable water treatment solutions. This success not only showcases the incredibly scalable potential of NBOT but also sets a new benchmark for addressing one of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time. It is an extraordinarily exciting discovery.”
As the world grapples with the forever chemicals challenge, NOAA’s innovation utilizing NBOT’s proprietary technology as a catalyst for the elimination of forever chemicals represents one of the most significant advancements in water treatment technology of our time. NBOT provides a safe, efficient, and chemical-free process for purifying water, ensuring a future where clean, PFAS-free water is a reality for all. With tens of thousands of known locations throughout the US over the legal limit of forever chemicals contamination and over 320 million Americans with PFAS in their bloodstreams, the introduction of NBOT Labs’ technology promises to transform the landscape of environmental protection and public health.
- Lewis RC, Johns LE, Meeker JD. 2015. Serum Biomarkers of Exposure to Perfluoroalkyl Substances in Relation to Serum Testosterone and Measures of Thyroid Function among Adults and Adolescents from NHANES 2011–2012. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 12(6): 6098-6114.
- Study: More than 200 Million Americans Could Have Toxic PFAS in Their Drinking Water.” Environmental Working Group, 14 Oct. 2020, www.ewg.org/news-insights/news-release/study-more-200-million-americans-could-have-toxic-pfas-their-drinking.
- Gerdes, Bill. “Miracle of Chemistry Conjures Corporate Poison.” Business Alabama Magazine, 28 Aug. 2018, businessalabama.com/miracle-of-chemistry-conjures-corporate-poison/.
- Proposed PFAS National Primary Drinking Water Regulation, Environmental Protection Agency, www.epa.gov/sdwa/and-polyfluoroalkyl-substances-pfas.