Abstract
The establishment of the EPA’s new legally enforceable maximum levels for toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) underscores the need for better remediation and low-level detection capabilities. With a unique porous structure and physicochemical properties, mesoporous carbon (MC) is a promising candidate as an adsorbent to capture PFAS and as a substrate to functionalize for improving selectivity and performance. Despite this potential, a comprehensive study with MC or their modification for the remediation and detection of PFAS is still lacking. Herein, we evaluated the adsorption, thermal stability, and preconcentration of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) on three different MC materials: disordered carbon (DC) and two ordered carbons, CMK-3 and CMK-8. The MC materials were further successfully modified by functionalization with methyltrialkyl (C8-C10)ammonium (MTA). Adsorption isotherms for both functionalized and bare MC were constructed to understand the PFOA adsorption behavior. The adsorption capacity of MC ranged between 57.7 and 142.6 mg/g with the best performance observed for CMK-3. MTA functionalization of MC improved the PFOA adsorption capacity by 26-34% relative to bare MC. In addition, we demonstrated that the thermal degradation of PFOA may be improved using functionalized materials by inhibiting PFOA vaporization at temperatures insufficient for chemical decomposition. We also developed a method that used MC as a preconcentrator to analyze PFOA in a solution at a lower concentration.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 5123-5133 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research |
| Volume | 64 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 12 2025 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
We acknowledge the help of Patrick Burton and Chad Staiger from Sandia National Laboratories, who allowed us to use their laboratory and provided training on instruments. We appreciate the support and assistance we received from the project manager, Scott Sanborn.This work was supported by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development program projects 233084 (PFAS detection) and 237052 (PFAS degradation) at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). SNL is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by the National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc. for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525. The employee owns all right, title and interest in and to the article and is solely responsible for its contents. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this article or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan. This work was supported by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development program projects 233084 (PFAS detection) and 237052 (PFAS degradation) at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). SNL is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by the National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc. for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525. The employee owns all right, title and interest in and to the article and is solely responsible for its contents. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this article or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan.