Liu, Yen-Ling, et al. Water research 207 (2021): 117781.
The presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), including emerging categories like per- and polyfluoroalkyl ether acids (PFEA), in water sources poses a significant treatment challenge. Ion exchange (IX) is a recognized technology for removing legacy anionic PFAS. This study assessed the performance of various IX resin types in treating a complex mixture of 40 legacy and emerging PFAS from a drinking water source.
Key Findings:
· Resin polymer matrix is decisive: The polymer backbone determined long-term PFAS uptake capacity more than specific PFAS chemical differences once contact time exceeded a couple of hours.
· PS-DVB superiority at equilibrium: All five PS-DVB resins tested achieved >90% removal for 35 of the 40 PFAS after 24 hours. By contrast, polymethacrylate and polyacrylic resins reached >90% removal for fewer than half of the PFAS compounds.
· Kinetics vs. equilibrium: At short contact (15 min) PFAS properties - chain length, charge and functional groups - strongly influenced removal rates. At contact times beyond ~2 h these PFAS-dependent differences diminished and resin chemistry dominated performance.
· Neutral & zwitterionic PFAS: Removal of neutral and zwitterionic emerging PFAS showed only limited differences from anionic PFAS when suitable resin matrices (notably PS-DVB) were used.
· Ether groups (PFEA): Presence of ether linkages in PFEA had little impact on uptake by PS-DVB and polyacrylic resins under the conditions tested.