Sunday, April 30, 2023

UBC water treatment zaps ‘forever chemicals’ for good | UBC Engineering


Perfluoroalkyl compounds are thousands of man-made and persistent chemicals polluting the environment, used in "raingear, non-stick cookware, stain repellents and firefighting foam" ref
 Selectively trapping them with an adsorbent, and breaking them down is major news. 

Electrochemical degradation using electrodes in sulfate solutions employs special "boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrodes...due to their fast charge-transfer kinetics, weak adsorption properties, and electrochemical stability" under conditions of "high current density and stirrer speed...Acidic condition, high temperature, and low initial concentration of PFOA [which] accelerated the degradation kinetic." ref 

I presume the end products are similar to those from plasma degradation, which were "perfluorohexanesulfonate (PFHxS), and perfluorobutanesulfonate (PFBS) were also found to be byproducts from PFOS degradation. Significant concentrations of fluoride ions, inorganic carbon, and smaller organic acids (trifluoroacetic acid, acetic acid, and formic acid) were also identified" ref  

which I assume are less toxic/persistent in the environment. 






No comments:

Post a Comment

Search This Blog

Followers