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Development and application of strategies to improve adsorptive per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances treatment: mitigation of organic matter impacts and development of high-performance media
Tajdini, Bahareh
Tajdini, Bahareh
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2024
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2026-04-04
Abstract
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of synthetic organofluorine chemicals that have been employed in a variety of consumer products. Presence of a wide suite of PFAS in aqueous film forming foams (AFFF) employed in response to firefighting emergencies and training activities at military sites has resulted in widespread contamination of the water cycle including groundwater and surface water at concentrations ranging from ng/L to mg/L. Due to their ubiquity and persistence in the environment, bioaccumulation potential, and toxicity to wildlife and humans, PFAS have received significant regulatory attention globally.
While sorption- based processes are widely considered as the best available technology for PFAS removal from a wide range of impacted streams, the performance of commercial adsorbents diminishes considerably in the presence of dissolved organic matter (DOM). The main objective of this dissertation was to develop a better understanding of the performance of commercial and emerging adsorbents for the removal of a wide range of PFAS from water matrices containing variable DOM (characteristics and concentration). The first research objective evaluated the interference mechanisms of DOM with PFAS adsorption and proposed strategies to improve the longevity of commercial adsorbents during the treatment of wastewater effluent. The second objective focused on the impact of PFAS chemical structure on the removal efficacy of commercial adsorbents and the final objective experimentally probed the impact of different binding interactions on the performance of an emerging class of adsorbents with higher capacity and selectivity towards PFAS. The results of this thesis are expected to contribute to the development of strategies for improving the treatment longevity of commercial adsorbents and the design of high capacity PFAS-selective adsorbents for the removal of PFAS from difficult to treat water matrices.
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