Claros Demonstrates Commercial-Scale UV Destruction of PFAS at $0.004 per cubic metre

Overview

On 30 April 2026, Claros Technologies announced the results of a commercial-scale field demonstration of its ClarosTechUV™ ultraviolet destruction system, achieving greater than 99.99% destruction of PFOS and PFOA in groundwater concentrate at a site managed by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). The demonstration processed foam fractionation concentrate derived from approximately 3.785 million litres (one million US gallons) of contaminated groundwater and surface water, with the ClarosTechUV™ subsystem directly treating concentrate from roughly 2.27 million litres (600,000 US gallons) of groundwater. The full destruction of targeted PFAS species was achieved in four hours, and crucially, the system operated under real-world field conditions using highly turbid, low-transparency water rather than pre-treated laboratory samples.

The cost figure at the centre of this announcement will draw significant attention from remediation professionals: approximately USD $0.015 per 1,000 US gallons, which converts to roughly AUD $0.006 per cubic metre at current exchange rates. For an industry that has long treated on-site PFAS destruction as technically feasible but economically prohibitive at scale, this benchmark is a significant change in what is commercially viable. The technology couples a foam fractionation pre-concentration step with UV-based mineralisation, meaning the energy-intensive destruction phase is applied only to the concentrated fraction rather than the entire groundwater volume. This design logic is central to understanding why the cost and energy figures are as low as they are.

For Australian environmental professionals advising on groundwater remediation under the PFAS National Environmental Management Plan 3.0 (PFAS NEMP 3.0), published in March 2025, this demonstration matters because it directly challenges a long-standing assumption embedded in many current remediation action plans: that permanent destruction of PFAS is too costly for routine deployment at large plume sites. That assumption is now under serious pressure.

Key details of the Claros ClarosTechUV demonstration at the MPCA Lake Elmo site

The ClarosTechUV™ system achieved destruction efficiency of greater than or equal to 99.99% for the targeted PFAS species, specifically PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonic acid) and PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid), within a four-hour treatment period. These two compounds remain the primary regulatory focus under most national and state-level PFAS frameworks, including Australia’s PFAS NEMP 3.0, due to their persistence, bioaccumulation potential, and established toxicological profiles. The demonstration was conducted on foam fractionation concentrate, meaning the input water to the UV destruction unit was already highly enriched in PFAS relative to the raw groundwater.

The energy consumption of the system was reported at below 200 watt-hours per litre (Wh/L) of concentrate treated. This figure requires careful interpretation. The 200 Wh/L figure applies to the concentrate stream entering the UV destruction unit, not to the total volume of groundwater processed. Because the foam fractionation step concentrates PFAS into a much smaller volume prior to destruction, the effective energy cost per unit of raw groundwater treated is substantially lower than the per-litre concentrate figure suggests. This treatment train design is what makes the overall cost of approximately USD $0.015 per 1,000 US gallons (approximately AUD $0.006 per cubic metre) achievable at commercial scale. The MPCA site at Lake Elmo, Minnesota, provided a genuine field environment with the turbid, chemically complex water conditions that laboratory-scale studies routinely avoid.

The foam fractionation step is a well-established concentration technology that exploits the surfactant properties of PFAS compounds. Air is introduced into contaminated water, generating bubbles to which PFAS molecules preferentially adsorb due to their amphiphilic structure. The resulting foam is collected and collapsed into a small-volume, high-concentration liquid stream. By directing only this concentrate to the UV destruction unit, the system avoids the impractical energy demand that would result from applying UV treatment to millions of litres of dilute groundwater. This coupling of concentration and destruction technologies is not entirely new in concept, but demonstrating it at commercially meaningful scale and cost in a field environment is the notable advance reported here.

It is also worth noting what the announcement does not claim. The 99.99% destruction efficiency applies to PFOS and PFOA specifically. The MPCA Lake Elmo site groundwater likely contains a range of PFAS precursors and shorter-chain compounds, and the press release does not report destruction efficiencies for the full suite of PFAS species that Australian regulators now require assessment of under PFAS NEMP 3.0. This is not a criticism of the technology but is a relevant technical qualification for practitioners designing remediation systems where regulatory sign-off will require demonstrating treatment outcomes across a broader PFAS analyte list.

Australian context: PFAS NEMP 3.0, state EPA frameworks, and the shift away from containment-based remediation

Australia’s PFAS NEMP 3.0, published by the National Chemicals Working Group in March 2025, establishes a clear regulatory preference for the permanent destruction of PFAS over containment, transfer, or sequestration approaches. This represents a meaningful philosophical shift from earlier iterations of the NEMP, which accommodated granular activated carbon (GAC) and ion exchange resin (IEX) systems as acceptable long-term management tools. Under PFAS NEMP 3.0, GAC and IEX systems remain permissible as interim or polishing measures, but regulators in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria

References and related sources

• Primary source: www.prnewswire.com
• boersennews.de
• https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/claros-demonstrates-99-99-pfas-destru
• PFAS National Environmental Management Plan (NEMP)

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This is an iEnvi Machete news summary. Prepared by iEnvi to summarise the source article for contaminated land, groundwater, remediation, approvals and site risk professionals.

Published: 01 May 2026

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