Elucidating degradation mechanisms for a range of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) via controlled irradiation studies

Autor: David Patch, Natalia O'Connor, Iris Koch, Tom Cresswell, Cath Hughes, Justin B. Davies, Jennifer Scott, Denis O'Carroll, Kela Weber
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Science of The Total Environment. 832:154941
ISSN: 0048-9697
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154941
Popis: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a challenging class of environmental pollutants due to a lack of available destructive remediation technologies. Understanding the fundamental mechanisms for degradation of PFAS is key for the development of field scalable and in-situ destructive based remediation technologies. This study aimed to elucidate and refine the current understanding of PFAS degradation mechanisms in water through a series of controlled gamma irradiation studies. Gamma irradiation of PFAS was performed using a cobalt-60 source in a batch irradiation up to 80 kGy at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation. Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonate (6:2 FTS), and a suite of thirteen different PFAS (including C4-C12 PFCAs, C4, C6, C8 PFSAs, and FOSA) were irradiated to investigate degradation, influence of pH, chain length, and transformation. High resolution mass spectrometry was used to identify more than 80 fluorinated transformation products throughout the degradation experiments. These included the -F/+H, -F/+OH, -F/CH
Databáze: OpenAIRE