The effort to clean up persistent contaminants in water is gaining momentum through a new partnership between Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and Proficio Consultancy, an engineering and fabrication firm based in Lisle, Illinois. Together, they are developing a water treatment system tailored for use with electron beam accelerators.
“This partnership highlights how we can combine cutting-edge national lab research with local small business ingenuity to tackle some of our most pressing problems,” said Chris Edwards, engineering project manager at Fermilab.
Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances — commonly known as PFAS or forever chemicals — are used in a multitude of industrial and consumer products and often end up in the environment. These chemicals, which are difficult to destroy due to their strong carbon-fluorine bonds, may have harmful effects on human health, so it is critical to remove them from water supplies.
Electron beam technology offers a promising solution.
Experts at Fermilab’s Illinois Accelerator Research Center — also called IARC — are developing a compact superconducting accelerator that generates electrons capable of destroying PFAS. Prior research at IARC has proven that electron beams can effectively break the carbon-fluoride bonds and render the resulting chemicals harmless, unlike most conventional water treatment methods, which produce secondary waste streams.
Maximizing PFAS breakdown in water requires carefully controlled treatment conditions. Proficio Consultancy will work closely with IARC to design and develop a specialized water treatment skid system that will ready PFAS-laden water for efficient electron beam irradiation, a process that safely uses radiation to break down unwanted chemicals. After treatment, the water treatment system will condition the water, ensuring it is safe to use or ready for further processing.
“This pre-treatment and conditioning system is critical to unlocking the full potential of our electron beam accelerator for environmental cleanup applications,” said Edwards.
The initial design will ensure the system integrates with Fermilab’s compact accelerator, allowing the continuous flow and irradiation of PFAS-laden water. In the future, the design can be scaled into a full-sized, field-deployable accelerator capable of treating large volumes of contaminated water.
The compact, modular skid will contain advanced instrumentation, including a control system that regulates water flow and monitors temperature, pH and oxygen levels, along with special pipes. Its flexibility to operate under a wide range of conditions — such as feed rate, batch size, pH level and nitrogen flow rate — will enable it to be optimized for a variety of water treatment applications and scaled up in the future.
“With decades of multi-disciplinary engineering experience, Proficio Consultancy is uniquely positioned to complete cradle-to-grave projects such as this PFAS water treatment skid system,” said Eddie Jaramillo, president and chief executive officer at Proficio Consultancy. “We are excited to work with Fermilab on this project.”
IARC’s mission to help industry adopt Fermilab-developed technologies is paving the way for scalable, cost-effective solutions to PFAS contamination. Partnerships between national laboratories and local small businesses strengthen regional innovation ecosystems and support the U.S. Department of Energy’s goals for technology transfer and commercialization.
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is America’s premier national laboratory for particle physics and accelerator research. Fermi Forward Discovery Group manages Fermilab for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. Visit Fermilab’s website at www.fnal.gov and follow us on social media.
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory hosted a building dedication ceremony today for the Helen Edwards Engineering Research Center with officials from the U.S. Department of Energy, state and local officials, and national partners in attendance. They joined the Fermilab community in unveiling the building’s official name that commemorates Dr. Helen Edwards’ pioneering research. The new building is the lab’s largest purpose-built lab and office space since the lab’s iconic Wilson Hall was completed in 1974.
Edwards was a renowned accelerator physicist best known for her work at Fermilab, including the design and operation of the Tevatron. The Tevatron held the title of the world’s most powerful particle collider for over 25 years and enabled the discoveries of the top quark in 1995 and the tau neutrino in 2000 — two of the three fundamental particles first discovered at Fermilab.
“Dr. Edwards’ scientific work is a symbol of the pioneering spirit of U.S research. Her contributions to the Tevatron and the lab helped the United States become a world leader in the study of elementary particles. We honor her legacy today by naming this research center after her as Fermilab continues shaping the next generation of research using AI, ML and quantum physics,” said Dr. Darío Gil, the under secretary for science at the U.S. Department of Energy.
The Helen Edwards Engineering Research Center is an 80,000-square-foot, multi-story laboratory and office building adjacent to Fermilab’s iconic Wilson Hall. It is a collaborative laboratory where engineers, scientists and technicians tackle the technical challenges of particle physics and pioneer groundbreaking advancements. Together, they are designing, building and testing technologies across several areas of research, including neutrino science, particle detectors, quantum science, electronics, application-specific integrated circuit development, and more.
The building boasts operational efficiencies and supports the ongoing research and planning for the premier international experiment hosted by Fermilab, the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), aligned with DOE’s goal of unleashing American innovation.
In addition to traditional workspaces like offices and conference rooms, the center features cleanrooms, vibration-sensitive labs and cryogenic facilities where the components of the near detector for DUNE will be assembled and tested. The spaces are designed to be reconfigurable and adaptable to future projects.
Dr. Edwards’ love of nature, her passion for increasing our understanding of our universe and her collaborative spirit to make big things a reality continue to serve as inspirations for the Fermilab community today. She died in 2016, three years before construction began on the building that now bears her name.
A congressional resolution was introduced on February 3, 2023, to recognize the name of the new building, and it was signed into law on December 23, 2024.
“Fermilab’s ability to drive American leadership in particle physics is due to visionaries like Helen Edwards,” said Fermilab Interim Director Young-Kee Kim. “Her contributions and leadership made many of our scientific discoveries possible. It is fitting that we remember her in this space where new technological breakthroughs will be discovered.”
Crews finished the construction of the building in the fall of 2022. The Helen Edwards Engineering Research Center connects to Wilson Hall, the 16-story high-rise named after Fermilab founding director Robert Wilson. The engineering center was funded by the Department of Energy’s Science Laboratory Infrastructure program and is intended to meet current and future needs for research performed at Fermilab for the DOE Office of Science.
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is America’s premier national laboratory for particle physics and accelerator research. Fermi Forward Discovery Group manages Fermilab for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. Visit Fermilab’s website at www.fnal.gov and follow us on social media.