Speaker
Description
Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a broad group of specialty chemicals used in applications such as food packaging, personnel care products and stain resistant fabrics. PFAS are both thermally and chemically stable due to strong dipole moments in C-F bonds created by the highly electronegative fluorine atom. Some uses of PFAS, one of the most noted being aqueous film forming foam used at airports and tank farms to combat fire, have led to unintended release to the environment. PFAS, like perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), are classified as persistent organic pollutants and as emerging pollutants of concern. Conventional water treatment technologies do not fully meet the needs of PFAS remediation, one of the largest problems being that technologies concentrate the PFAS into another state and do not destroy it. Electron beams can be used to create highly reactive oxidizing species, such as the hydroxyl radical (•OH), or strong reducing species such as hydrogen radical (•H) and solvated electron (eaq-) that can react with the PFAS to facilitate their decomposition. Results on e-beam destruction of PFAS from a recently completed 2-year collaborative study with 3M will be detailed.
