Press Release

June 04, 2024

AECOM and Aquatech to Deliver PFAS Destruction with DE-FLUORO™ Technology

News

DALLAS (June 4, 2024) — AECOM, the world’s trusted infrastructure consulting firm, and Aquatech, a global leader in water and process technology, have announced an agreement to accelerate the deployment of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) destruction technology. This collaboration brings together a wealth of experience, combining AECOM’s water and environmental practice, ranked number-one by ENR, and innovative DE-FLUORO™ PFAS destruction technology with Aquatech’s industry-leading process and electrochemical technology expertise and history of scaling end-to-end technology solutions and services. This synergy of two established industry players will help accelerate DE-FLUORO as a leading PFAS destruction solution.

“As AECOM continues to accelerate the development of our proprietary DE-FLUORO PFAS destruction technology, our agreement with Aquatech provides the capability to offer full-service commercialization from initial evaluation to on-site treatment programs,” said Frank Sweet, chief executive of AECOM’s global Environment business. “This agreement will help integrate our solutions into existing wastewater processes and strengthen our industry-leading PFAS practice to address our clients’ nuanced contamination challenges.”

Backed by six years of research, development, and demonstration, DE-FLUORO is a patented and field proven electrochemical oxidation technology that destroys PFAS. This process has been deployed on a variety of waste streams within the United States, Australia, and Europe and across a range of industrysectorsto successfully achieve environmentally friendly PFAS destruction.

“Our Global Water business continues to advance its industry leadership thanks to our teams’ ongoing innovation in identifying, treating, and—critically—destroying PFAS for clients worldwide,” said Beverley Stinson, chief executive of AECOM’s global Water business. “This new agreement with Aquatech’s skilled practitioners is expected to bolster DE-FLUORO’s status as a go-to solution, giving more communitiesaccess to safe, affordable and sustainable PFAS destruction technologies.”

The agreement is expected to target challenging applications, such as aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) clean-outs, PFAS-impacted rinse water, ion exchange resin still bottom waste, reverse osmosis brine, separated and concentrated industrial and municipal waste streams, and landfill leachate.

“Our key differentiator is our ability to understand and integrate customer needs with a complete, engineered PFAS management and destruction solution. This includes separation, concentration, and destruction, supported by necessary treatability studies, analytical support, and onsite operation and maintenance services,” said C Ravi, President and CTO of Aquatech. “This agreement enables both companies to accelerate technology adoption with deployable assets. Together, we provide an essential, economically viable service that addresses the urgent need for safe and reliable PFAS destruction.”

About AECOM 

AECOM is the world’s trusted infrastructure consulting firm, delivering professional services throughout the project lifecycle – from advisory, planning, design and engineering to program and construction management. On projects spanning transportation, buildings, water, new energy, and the environment, our public- and private-sector clients trust us to solve their most complex challenges. Our teams are driven by a common purpose to deliver a better world through our unrivaled technical and digital expertise, a culture of equity, diversity and inclusion, and a commitment to environmental, social and governance priorities. AECOM is a Fortune 500 firm and its Professional Services business had revenue of $14.4 billion in fiscal year 2023. See how we are delivering sustainable legacies for generations to come at aecom.com and @AECOM.

About Aquatech

At Aquatech, we tackle the challenges of water scarcity and complexity by leveraging technology, expertise, and financing to deliver comprehensive solutions that reduce carbon and water footprint. As a leading global provider of water and process technology solutions, we help the world’s most recognized companies achieve their sustainability and operational goals by implementing innovative approaches for water reuse, desalination, minimal and zero liquid discharge, and critical minerals recovery. Our work catalyzes the transition toward a more sustainable future and showcases our commitment to addressing water’s role in climate adaptation. Learn more at www.aquatech.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

All statements in this communication other than statements of historical fact are “forward-looking statements” for purposes of federal and state securities laws, including any statements of the plans, strategies and objectives for future operations, profitability, strategic value creation, risk profile and investment strategies, and any statements regarding future economic conditions or performance, and the expected financial and operational results of AECOM. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, actual results could differ materially from those projected or assumed in any of our forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our actual results, performance and achievements, or industry results to differ materially from estimates or projections contained in our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the following: our business is cyclical and vulnerable to economic downturns and client spending reductions; potential government shutdowns or other funding circumstances that may cause governmental agencies to modify, curtail or terminate our contracts; losses under fixed-price contracts; limited control over operations that run through our joint venture entities; liability for misconduct by our employees or consultants; failure to comply with laws or regulations applicable to our business; maintaining adequate surety and financial capacity; potential high leverage and inability to service our debt and guarantees; ability to continue payment of dividends; exposure to political and economic risks in different countries, including tariffs, geopolitical events, and conflicts; currency exchange rate and interest fluctuations; retaining and recruiting key technical and management personnel; legal claims; inadequate insurance coverage; environmental law compliance and adequate nuclear indemnification; unexpected adjustments and cancellations related to our backlog; partners and third parties who may fail to satisfy their legal obligations; managing pension costs; AECOM Capital real estate development projects; cybersecurity issues, IT outages and data privacy; risks associated with the benefits and costs of the sale of our Management Services and self-perform at-risk civil infrastructure, power construction and oil and gas businesses, including the risk that any purchase adjustments from those transactions could be unfavorable and result in any future proceeds owed to us as part of the transactions could be lower than we expect; as well as other additional risks and factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our forward-looking statements set forth in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof. We do not intend, and undertake no obligation, to update any forward-looking statement.