b'36 SEAENVIRONMENTALSeparating the Sludge channels and piping that feed the hoses, lines, turrets and nozzles. David Fleming, founder of TRS Group,David [Fleming]s team on the ground worked with my mechanics elaborates about the chemistry that drivesto manipulate and trick the vehicles to create the flow path they the product: PerfluorAd is a surfactant, anwanted to take advantage of that processing, says Krause. oleic acid, plant-based soap. It is a positivelyThe process uses flocculation, sedimentation and filtration to charged molecule, and the PFAS is aremove particles from the water. The remaining sludge is disposed negatively charged molecule. When those twooff-site, and the water continues to be filtered until its clean come into contact, they form particles throughDAVID FLEMING enough to be discharged on site into the sewer. Fleming says its a weak but stable ionic bond that can bea new application for a process thats been used for decades in sedimentated.the municipal wastewater treatment industry.The cleaning process begins by removing PFAS-containingIn general, cleaning ARFF vehicles requires large volumes of concentrate from vehicles, followed by a rinse with cold potablewater, and airports that rely on water-only rinses have to deal with water. The rinsate is captured and tested to evaluate the baselinethat contaminated water. Krause considers it a huge advantage that concentration of what remains in the trucks. Next, PerfluorAdthe PerfluorAd process also cleans the wastewater. We probably concentrate is mixed with potable water heated to 110 to 120would have had 70,000 to 90,000 gallons of wastewater that we degrees Fahrenheit. TRS personnel flush the solution through thewould have had to pay to dispose of if we couldnt discharge on firefighting vehicle three to five times. When theres no more visiblesite, he says, estimating disposal fees of more than $5 per gallon. foam formation, they conduct a final potable water rinse andThis process really pays for itself with the waste mitigation.analyze the captured rinsate. The airport chose to clean its ARFF vehicles at a cost of Technicians from TRS worked with airport staff to devise a$50,000 to $70,000 each rather than purchase new ones for special process for cleaning the complicated inner systems of the$1.2 or $1.3 million each. The project team secured $300,000 ARFF vehicles. They created a flow path that accessed the variousfor cleaning and another $300,000 for the new fluorine-free foam WE WROTE THE BOOKLet our guidebooks from our partnership with ACRP help steer your airport toward a prosperous future.HANSON-INC.COM/FLYHanson Avaition Positive Energy October.indd 1 8/27/2024 8:33:05 AMOctober 2024AirportImprovement.com'