Recent Advances in PFAS Removal from Water: A Mini Review of Treatment Strategies

Abstract

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are forever chemicals with strong, unbreakable C-F bonds, posing a serious environmental and global health concern. The Environmental protection agency has regulated and implemented the strict permissible levels of PFAS in water matrices to prevent it from causing further damage. The source, occurrence and toxicity of PFAS was briefly reported to understand the need for its removal and degradation from water sources. Various removal strategies are adopted for the removal and degradation of PFAS among which the mini review focuses on the advanced methods like adsorption, membrane filtration, and Advanced Oxidation Process (AOP) and providing an insight into the methods' innovative approach to remove and degrade PFAS by incorporating different mechanisms. The innovative adsorbents like biochar, metal organic frameworks and conventional granular activated carbon removal efficiency and its limitation for short chain compounds were also emphasized. In case of membrane filtration, parameters increasing or impacting the rejection efficiency were reported. Destructive processes like AOP efficiency in defluorination of PFAS was discussed. The review also emphasises the need for the development of hybrid methods that could effectively degrade both long and short chain PFAS. Future scope and research direction insist on the development of methods that are scalable and cost-effective methods for PFAS and mitigating PFAS to achieve complete elimination.