Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) are two perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are commonly found in drinking water and have been shown to result in several adverse health effects including birth defects, kidney/testicular cancer as well as liver and thyroid damage. Due to the chemical compatibility of PFOS/PFOA with water, these compounds are extremely difficult to separate and remove. Here, we developed a novel way of removing PFOS/PFOA from drinking water using linear fluorinated silane functionalized aluminum oxide hydroxides. Our results showed that silanes with 13 to 17 fluorine atoms provided the best PFOS/PFOA removal under very high water flux of 1223 L/m<sup>2</sup>.hr. However, due to the hydrophobicity of these fluorinated silanes, high back pressure was also noted in these systems. In order to reduce the back pressure, we incorporated hydrophilic polyethylene glycol units into the fluorosliane and demonstrated that the new hydrophilic silane not only dramatically reduced the back pressure but also led to 99.9% PFOS and PFOA reduction. Adsorption isotherm and kinetics analyses were also performed to understand the removal mechanisms, enabling further optimization.

Removal of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from drinking water

256th National Meeting (2018)

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