The prevalence of so-called "forever chemicals" used by industry in water and food is becoming more ubiquitous worldwide, researchers said. Recent research proved they're even found in the batteries powering the green revolution.
The EPA finalized its standards on the chemicals, known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), earlier this year and classified two of the widely used ones as hazardous substances under the Superfund.
First made in the 1930s, they are now found "widely in the food and water supply and in most people's blood," NPR reported.
One type used by some modern heating and air conditioning systems, TFA (trifluoracetic acid) is "far more widespread than realized," wrote Amudalat Ajasa for The Washington Post on July 13.
It has a composition that scientists say may make it harder to filter, although scientists lack consensus on whether it poses a human health risk, according to The Post.
"The situation is that we have TFA in all the drinking water. You are drinking it right now. Everyone's drinking it," David Behringer, an environmental consultant who works extensively with refrigerants and propellants in Germany, told Ajasa. BioLargo Inc. (BLGO:OTCQB)
BioLargo Inc. (BLGO:OTCQB) has possible solutions. Its Aqueous Electrostatic Concentrator (AEC) technology removes more than 99% of PFAS chemicals from water with less waste by-product generated than other methods. The company is also developing a "liquid sodium" prototype battery that will be longer-lasting and safer than lithium-ion batteries and not contain any PFAS, it said.
The company is made up of several subsidiaries that work in different sectors, a "family of products," including ONM Environmental, BioLargo Engineering, BioLargo Water, BioLargo Energy Technologies, Clyra Medical Technologies, and the new BioLargo Equipment Solutions & Technologies Inc. (BEST) subsidiary.
The Catalyst: Chemicals May Be Linked to Health Risks
PFAS are a group of thousands of synthetic chemicals used in everything from the linings of fast-food boxes and non-stick cookware to fire-fighting foams and other purposes.
Prolonged exposure may be linked to adverse health risks such as cancer, hormonal disruption, and reduced immune system effectiveness, although research is still being conducted. They are called "forever chemicals" because they break down very slowly.
At least 70 million people are exposed to PFAS in U.S. drinking water, but that testing has only checked about one-third of the nation's public water systems, the EPA said.
The agency said it is on pace to find over 200 million people exposed, or at least 60% of Americans, not including those who use private wells. There's even a map of PFAS detections across the country.
More than 15,000 PFAS claims have been filed nationwide against major manufacturers of the substances in the U.S., Time reported. So far, settlements have totaled nearly US$11.5 billion in damages.
'Tug-of-War' Between Environment, Search for Energy
According to a report written by Tom Perkins for The Guardian on July 14, a new peer-reviewed study zeroed in on another little-researched subclass of PFAS called bis-FASI that are used in lithium-ion batteries.
"Researchers found alarming levels of the chemicals in the environment near manufacturing plants, noted their presence in remote areas around the world, found they appear to be toxic to living organisms, and discovered that waste from batteries disposed of in landfills was a major pollution source," Perkins wrote.
Jennifer Guelfo, a Texas Tech University researcher and study co-author, told the paper, that the nation faces "two critical challenges — to minimize aquatic pollution and increase our use of clean and sustainable energy, and both are worthy causes."
However, "there's a bit of tug-of-war between the two, and this study highlights that we have an opportunity now as we scale up this energy infrastructure to do a better job of incorporating environmental risk assessments," she said.
Wisconsin Waters Impacted by Foams
Another new study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison has found that naturally occurring foams on the state waterways have PFAS levels "thousands of times higher than waters that lie below," wrote Danielle Kaeding for a report on Wisconsin Public Radio on July 10.
The study was published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. Researchers studied 36 different types of PFAS in samples collected from foams and the very top layer of the water column across 43 rivers and lakes in Wisconsin.
Study co-author Christina Remucal was quoted as saying the PFAS concentrations found were "jaw-dropping." One lake, Lake Monona, showed PFAS levels up to roughly 328,000 parts per trillion.
“Just for comparison, the new (federal) drinking water regulations are 4 (parts per trillion)," she told WPR. "So, these are really high numbers."
The lake is known to be impacted by the use of firefighting foam containing PFAS at a nearby airport, Kaeding reported.
Commissioners Push Back on Rules in NC
In North Carolina, state Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Elizabeth Bizer said commissioners there are pushing back on the rules that would limit the amount of PFAS in waterways, local station WRAL reported. The commissioners declined to start a rulemaking process for the standards at a meeting last week.
Biser said an estimated 300 drinking water systems in the state will need upgraded under federal limits, and customers could end up footing the bill.
"Do they need to actually count body bags before they're willing to take action?" Biser asked about the commissioners.
Also in North Carolina, one farmer, Ty Jacobus of Honeybird Organic Farm in New Hanover County, said PFAS testing results showed 10 to 12 times the current EPA standards in his produce. Just one egg from his chickens had over 200 times the limit.
Even though no laws are preventing him from doing it, he told WRAL, "We can't sell those."
Testing Shows Level of 'Non-Detection' After Process
BioLargo’s PFAS water treatment technology, the Aqueous Electrostatic Concentrator (AEC), removes more than 99% of those dangerous substances from flowing water and has been shown in pilot studies to meet the EPA's tough new specifications for PFAS in drinking water, the company said.
The process separates the compounds in an electrostatic field, forcing them across a proprietary membrane system. The AEC's energy costs are very low, and its waste stream is a fraction of that of traditional carbon or ion exchange systems.
Testing has shown the technology removes the chemicals to a level of "non-detection," or a level at which science can no longer detect them, the company said.
Separately, the company released announced that it has manufactured its "liquid sodium" prototype battery cells that are long-lasting and safer than lithium-ion batteries.
BioLargo's Cellinity™ battery cells have no runaway fires or risk of explosion, don't decrease in performance over thousands of uses, and store more energy per unit of weight than lithium batteries, the company noted.
They involve a unique chemistry involving molten salt electrolytes that "imparts substantial benefits over lithium-ion chemistry," the company noted in a release.
The company also said the battery is not self-discharging and does not have outgassing or parasitic load for cooling, and all of the materials in it can be sourced in North America without the need for rare earth elements.
Streetwise Ownership Overview*"The world needs a reliable, safe, and eco-friendly alternative to lithium batteries, and we believe our Cellinity battery will meet these needs," BioLargo President and Chief Executive Officer Dennis P. Calvert said.
Ownership and Share Structure
About 14.6% of BioLargo is owned by insiders and management, according to Yahoo! Finance. They include Chief Science Officer Kenneth Code with 8.44%, CEO Calvert with 3.32%, and Director Jack Strommen with 1.64%, Reuters reported.
About 0.04% is held by the institution First American Trust, Reuters said.
The rest, about 85%, is retail.
Its market cap is US$75.69 million, with about 296.84 million shares outstanding and about 254.71 million free-floating. It trades in a 52-week range of US$0.45 and US$0.15.
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