Degradation of perfluorooctansulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) by mechanochemical treatment

Abstract

Perfluorooctansulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which case concern as persistent organic pollutant compounds, were treated with calcium oxide by a mechanochemical (MC) process. PFOS and PFOA were degraded during MC treatment by the cleavage of C-C and C-F bonds in their molecules, resulting in the formation of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) and calcium fluoride (CaF2) as degradation products. The MC treatment of PFOS/PFOA makes it possible to recover a valuable material such as CaF 2. It was found that PFOS had poor degradability in comparison with PFOA because of the difference in physical properties. Copyright © 2008 The Society of Chemical Engineers.