PFAS contamination poses a significant 21st century challenge, linked to health issues like elevated cholesterol, weakened immune systems, and cancer. The European Commission's February 2023 decision imposes restrictions on specific PFAS, with ongoing evaluations for broader bans. Despite impending regulations, PFAS will persist in the environment. As of 2023, new EU laws mandate increased PFAS screening in food and drinking water, necessitating crucial and ongoing testing of water, food, and environmental samples. Despite extensive efforts, no technology can effectively and sustainably remove PFAS from water.
Conventional wastewater treatment methods are not able to remove efficiently PFAS from water sources. The state of the art technology for PFAS removal is adsorption by activated carbon (AC) in fixed-bed adsorbers which possess critical drawbacks, including I) short useful operation times for short-chain and ultra-short-chain perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) and II) a significant environmental burden due to AC production and AC off-site combustion or regeneration. Since PFAS are present in trace concentrations across various water sources, their degradation using current methods like electrooxidation faces significant challenges, including the high costs of reactor construction and electrode preparation.
2D4PFAS aims to develop a high-performance, sustainable, efficient, and green electrochemical-based technology (Electro-Catch&Treat) for PFAS removal from various water sources including, surface water, ground water, and drinking water. This Electro-Catch&Treat technology is a step towards cost- and eco-efficient technologies to remove PFAS as a new class of contaminants of global concern, but is also applicable in other fields of water treatment facing problematic pollutants, including pesticides, pharmaceuticals or personal care products as well as water desalination. The electrochemical cells of the Electro-Catch (PFAS removal) and Electro-Treat (PFAS oxidation) steps are applied in continuous-flow mode, and their electrodes are based on two-dimensional (2D) electrode materials with strong and fast PFAS adsorption properties, which remove PFAS using low energy consumption with full remediation of water.
In the Electro-Catch step, PFAS are removed from large volumes of water through electroadsorption. In the subsequent step, PFAS accumulated on the 2D material-based electrode are desorbed via electrodesorption and concentrated into a small volume. The goal of this project is to achieve high enrichment factors.
In the Electro-Treat step, the small volume concentrate containing PFAS is treated by electrooxidation to completely degrade the PFAS. PFAS destruction is achieved on-site by electrooxidation. Processes powered by renewable electricity replace current high-temperature combustion of adsorbents.