A Review of Treatment Technologies for Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS) and Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) in Water

Abstract

Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) are a category of persistent, non-degradable pollutants that are widespread in the environment and in humans. They have attracted considerable attention due to their high bioaccumulation, multiple toxicities, long-term stability, and, in particular, their effects on human health. Therefore, there is an urgent need for highly efficient technologies and systematic mechanisms for the degradation of PFOS and PFOA. Therefore, we summarize four mainstream technologies for the degradation of PFOS and PFOA in water and their research progress in this review, namely adsorption, advanced oxidation processes, microbial treatment, and membrane separation. Among them, adsorption technology is the earliest and relatively mature, the advanced oxidation process has relatively high treatment efficiency, there are deep and broad development prospects for microbial treatment in the future, and membrane separation technology can recycle raw materials and help to save resources. Based on the analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the existing technologies, the development prospect of reasonable optimization technology is prospected, with a view to providing a practical scientific reference for the research and engineering practice of PFOS and PFOA pollution control in China.