Session: Recent Advances in Destruction, Degradation, Isolation, Removal & Sensing of PFASs:

The persistent nature of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and their recalcitrance to degradation have made their environmental presence a problem of great concern. A great deal of effort has been directed to the remediation of these contaminants from environmental matrices by filtration or destruction. Current state-of-the-art technologies for the removal of PFAS contaminants from waters include granulated activated carbon (GAC) and ion exchange (IX) resins. These sorption matrices leverage either hydrophobic (GAC) or Coulombic (IX) to adsorb and retain PFASs but often display better retention for either long (GAC) or short (IX) chain variants. Metal-organic frameworks can overcome the limitations of GAC and IX resins in that they can be designed and tuned/modified to display both hydrophobic and charged groups within a single platform, thereby reducing the costs associated with multi-step water treatment chains. We have developed a series of cationic MOFs in an attempt to improve retention of both long and short chain PFASs. Here, we discuss results obtained for the retention of perfluoroalkyl sulfonates (PFxS) of varying chain length by these cationic MOFs.

Dr William A Maza

Research Chemist, US Naval Research Lab

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