Events

The management of PFAS contamination has shifted considerably in recent years, with local governments across Australia facing increasingly complex operational and regulatory pressures. While early attention centred on long-chain PFAS such as PFOS and PFOA, monitoring programs now reveal a growing prevalence of short-chain PFAS across landfills, leachate systems, stormwater networks and wastewater infrastructure. These compounds behave differently in the environment, are more mobile, and require more targeted treatment approaches than conventional systems have historically provided.

However, recent validation is reshaping this understanding:

Short-chain PFAS performance is now being validated where activated carbon is engineered with the appropriate pore structure and accessibility.

This marks a shift in focus: from whether activated carbon works to which activated carbon is selected and how it is designed.

As regulatory expectations evolve, the emphasis is no longer solely on the limitations of conventional treatment, but on how performance-driven, fit-for-purpose carbon solutions can be applied in practice.

In this webinar, our speaker will explore:

• Why short-chain PFAS presents greater challenges for councils, including their persistence, mobility and reduced affinity for traditional treatment media.
• The shift in adsorption mechanisms for short-chain PFAS — from hydrophobic interactions to electrostatic interactions and micropore-driven adsorption — and what this means for carbon design.
• Why conventional activated carbons (particularly standard GACs) often underperform in real-world applications, and the structural factors behind this.
• How engineered activated carbons with high microporosity, optimised pore size distribution, and improved accessibility can significantly enhance short-chain PFAS adsorption and immobilisation.
• How activated carbon compares with alternative treatment approaches such as membrane filtration, ion exchange resins and high-energy destruction technologies, and the implications for capital cost, operational complexity and waste management.
• Emerging sustainable activated carbon production methods — such as lower-temperature, lower-energy activation — and how these innovations can reduce the environmental footprint of PFAS treatment while maintaining performance.
• How councils can set realistic performance expectations, integrate activated carbon into broader containment and risk-reduction strategies, and maintain regulatory defensibility under the PFAS NEMP and state EPA guidance.

Practical examples will illustrate how activated carbon performs across different PFAS compound groups, how system design and material structure influence outcomes, and how well-engineered carbon solutions can deliver more stable and reliable short-chain PFAS management under real-world conditions, even where complete removal is not achievable.

This webinar will be particularly valuable for local government decision‑makers, operational teams, regulators, consultants and anyone seeking to better understand practical, sustainable and cost‑effective PFAS treatment pathways in an evolving regulatory environment. A live question‑and‑answer session will follow the presentation, and the webinar will be recorded.