General Atomics PERSES Waste Destruction System Scheduled to Destroy PFAS at Lake Elmo, Minnesota Site
SAN DIEGO – 16 Apr 2025 - General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) announced today that its commercial PERSES™ waste destruction system will be delivered to a Lake Elmo, Minnesota waste management facility to demonstrate the system’s industrial-scale capabilities to destroy a variety of per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) waste streams. GA-EMS was awarded a contract by Bay West LLC, an environmental and remediation company leading the research program funded by the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) to deliver, install, and operate PERSES for multiple project demonstrations to destroy PFAS and PFAS contaminated waste media. The system will be at the Lake Elmo site for about 4 weeks and then removed to other sites for additional tests under different contracts.
“Minnesota’s government leadership, as well as states across the nation are actively implementing strategies to eliminate PFAS from the environment and mitigate the adverse effects these “forever chemicals” have on public health and safety,” said Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS. “We are excited to bring the destruction power of PERSES to Lake Elmo as local, state, and federal government agencies continue to evaluate PERSES’ capabilities to eliminate PFAS from a myriad of waste streams. We appreciate the efforts the Lake Elmo city council and local community have made to support this project and look forward to a successful demonstration program.”
In 2024, Bay West conducted testing at the GA-EMS full-scale testing facility in San Diego and provided ERDC results analysis to verify PERSES 99.99% and greater PFAS destruction efficiency in a variety of waste media from both government and commercial supplied sources. The delivery of PERSES to the Lake Elmo facility is the next step in the project to commence on-site, industrial-scale destruction of PFAS and other organic waste in media including Aqueous Film-Forming Foam (AFFF), landfill leachate, biosolid “sludge”, soils and sediment, and granular activated carbon (GAC) and resin beads from filtration treatment systems.
Bay West, LLC, a nationally recognized environmental consulting and remediation company headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, provides solutions to government and commercial enterprises to navigate complex environmental concerns and ongoing remediation challenges. ERDC is an integral component of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and helps solve the nation’s most challenging civil and military engineering, geospatial sciences, water resources, and environmental sciences for the Army, DoD, civilian agencies and for the nation’s public good.
About General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems
General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) develops innovative technologies to create breakthrough solutions supporting operational environments from undersea to space. From electromagnetic, power generation and energy storage systems and space systems and satellites, to hypersonic, missile defense, and laser weapon systems, GA-EMS offers an expanding portfolio of capabilities for defense, government, and national security customers. GA-EMS also provides commercial products and services targeting the hazardous waste remediation, demilitarization, oil and gas, and nuclear energy industries.
For further information, visit www.ga.com/PERSES
Media Contact: EMS-MediaRelations@ga.com