Florida-based environmental tech company ecoSPEARS offers a breakthrough remediation solution developed by NASA scientists for eliminating PCBs and PFAS chemicals ("forever chemicals").

The company presented its green, sustainable remediation technology at the global 2023 Conference of Parties (COP) in Geneva, Switzerland.

This process to eliminate toxic contaminants onsite is becoming the leading technology for many countries moving forward, which is a paradigm shift in the ability to remediate toxic sites.

PCBs and PFAS chemicals have been widely used to manufacture industrial and consumer products, and their presence has led to global contamination of soil and water.

PCB chemicals have been linked to cancer, reproductive disorders, developmental problems, and other long-term diseases. PFAS chemicals have been linked to immune system dysfunction, thyroid disease, and cancer. PFAS has been found in food, food packaging, bottled water, makeup, toilet paper, artificial turf, and dental floss, as well as other products.

This technology has the ability to remediate toxic water, soil, and transformer oil where it exists, without having to transport and incinerate it. Current methods demand that toxic material is shipped thousands of miles to be incinerated. This method runs the risk of toxic spills in transit.

The ecoSPEARS process is non-combustion and non-thermal, thus  it is safer than the current method and costs less to implement.

The two-step process is: First, extraction of the toxic chemicals from soil or water; second is the breakdown of these forever chemicals. There’s no need to dig up or move toxic soil or burn it.

Because of this, the new methodology is both cost-effective and scalable. It can be used to eliminate PCBs, PFAS, dioxins, and other persistent toxins wherever they are found.

“Our mission is to bring this critical new technology to the world,” said Sergie Albino, ecoSPEARS CEO and former NASA engineer, who helped develop the process and co-founded ecoSPEARS. “We joined the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) to assist in eliminating PCB oil stockpiles worldwide by 2028. Our technology will help make that happen.”

ecoSPEARS is a cleantech company, revolutionizing environmental remediation with green, sustainable technologies to cleanse soil and waterways that are contaminated with PFAS, PCBs, dioxins, and other persistent toxins that threaten human health and the environment.