Removal of Perfluorinated Compounds from Water with Activated Carbon and Redox Treatments

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) consist by a hydrophobic perfluorinated carbon tail and a hydrophilic ionic headgroup. Because of their unique structure, PFCs have a wide variety of applications including active ingredient in fire fighting foams, impregnation for food packing and waterproof breathable fabrics and the producing of teflon. Recently, the research interest for these compounds has been increased due to their recalcitrance, strong bioaccumulation and potential toxicity. While the occurrence of PFCs have been well documented in Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) all over the world, however there is few data for their removal. The aim of this work was to investigate the removal of 6 PFCs (C5, C8 to C11 carboxylic acids and C8 sulfonic acid) in water using a) activated carbon (Powdered Activated Carbon; PAC, Granular Activated Carbon; GAC), b) advanced oxidation processes such as: UV/H2O2, UV/S2O8 and c) reductive treatments based on nanoscale Zero Valent Iron (nZVI). The percentage removal was calculated for each target compound using the above techniques.