Recently, per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been the focus of US federal regulation and a handful of lawsuits. Since conventional long-chain PFAS are highly persistent, bio-accumulative, and toxic, PFAS manufacturers and end-users are moving forward to switch them to short-chain surrogate PFAS. Short-chain PFAS will pose soon another significant environmental problem. In our effort to remove and decompose PFAS, we have studied advanced oxidation technologies utilizing strong hydroxyl radicals, particularly TiO2 photocatalysis, considering the chemical inertness of PFAS. A series of short-chain PFAS have been examined to elucidate the effect of chain lengths and functional groups of PFAS on their reactivity with hydroxyl radicals produced by TiO2 under ultraviolet. We found some general trends in decomposing PFAS. In the presentation, we will be reporting the photolytic and photocatalytic decomposition of short-chain PFAS in water and discussing the reactivity comparison.

Reactivity comparison of various short-chain PFAS for TiO2 photocatalytic decomposition

2019 Spring National Meeting

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