Water and Remediation Catalog.

Authors: Bahareh Tajdini, Hooman Vatankhah, Conner C. Murray, Alexander Liethen, Christopher Bellona

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2023.120105

Synopsis:

• Ozone (O3) and biologically active filtration (BAF) were evaluated as pretreatments for GAC, ion exchange, and surface modified clay adsorbents for their ability to improve sorption of PFAS by reducing the impact of wastewater co-contaminants. All treatments reduced the molecular weight of the effluent organic matter, therefore reducing the competitive binding of matrix co-contaminants
• Competitive binding of effluent organic matter was observed with all media, but FLUORO-SORB® and ion exchange were less impacted by the present of effluent organic matter than GAC due to their selective nature. BAF and O3-BAF were the most effective in reducing the impact of matrix on performance for FLUORO-SORB® adsorbent
• It is proposed that the use of pretreatments for effluent organic matter could elongate the life-time of the media, even for selective adsorbents like FLUORO-SORB® and that more research on various pretreatment routes is needed

Brief: Effluent organic matter is known to have a negative impact on performance of sorptive media because of competitive binding. Ozone and biologically active filtration (BAF) were shown to improve the performance of FLUORO-SORB® media by reducing the size of effluent organic matter allowing for longer bed-life’s in wastewater treatment.