Large-scale PFAS treatment at the Högbytorp recycling plant

11 October 2022

Press Release

At the Högbytorp recycling plant in Upplands-Bro, Sweden, almost 50,000 cubic meters of leachate were treated for the removal of PFAS chemicals over a four-month period. Chromafora, an innovative Swedish cleantech company, was behind the treatment project.

The environmental company Ragn-Sells’ Högbytorp recycling plant processes more than 1,700,000 metric tons of waste per year. Among other things, it processes contaminated soil, oily sludge from car washes, organic materials; plastics, paper and wood (PPW) and ash. This waste processing gives rise to leachate which often contains metals, salts and PFAS.

" “No matter how good we are at sorting and recycling, there will always be something left over that we don’t want in the circular flow, such as PFAS. Even though there is currently no specific benchmark value for PFAS in leachate to adhere to, we think it’s important to do what we can to reduce any dispersal.”"

Anders Hagevi

Department Manager, Ragn-Sells

Chromafora was engaged by Ragn-Sells between June and September 2022 to separate at least 40 percent of PFAS11 from the leachate. PFAS11 is the total of 11 common PFAS variants, including PFOS and PFOA, and is used as a reference for the occurrence of PFAS in water.

The system used to treat such major volumes of water in so short a period included charcoal filters and ultrafilters able to process a volume around five times greater than Chromafora’s earlier installations.

" “Working with PFAS treatment at Högbytorp is really exciting as it’s one of Sweden’s leading recycling installations. We’re passionate about the environment. We treated around 50,000 cubic meters of leachate for PFAS11, and this involved processing around 500 cubic meters every day throughout the assignment. The goal was a 40 percent reduction in PFAS11, but preliminary results show that the reduction achieved was a little over 45 percent. This means we exceeded our goal by a good margin, something we are naturally proud of.”"

Johan Seijmer

CEO, Chromafora

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