According to new research, chemists have for the first time developed a cost-effective method for destroying "forever chemicals."
The chemicals' ability to resist liquids and oils renders them extremely valuable. Hundreds of ordinary items, from frying pans to makeup, contain PFAS.
Researchers have connected PFAS exposure at certain concentrations to substantial health hazards, including cancer and birth abnormalities. These characteristics, however, make them so resistant to destruction.
They have been detected in low concentrations in precipitation around the world; but, if they enter water or soil at high concentrations, they can constitute a severe hazard.
The acronym PFAS refers to poly- and perfluoroalkyl compounds. There are over 4,500 of these fluorine-based compounds, and they are found in nearly every home on the planet in items such as food packaging, nonstick cookware, rain gear, adhesives, paper, and paints.
Ongoing research aims to identify how varied degrees of exposure can result in a variety of health impacts.
Current methods for destroying PFAS, such as burning, have not proved very effective since they are either prohibitively expensive or have been linked to local contamination.
Scientists from Northwestern University in the United States claim to have accomplished the "impossible" by destroying PFAS using low temperatures and inexpensive supplies.
Prof. Sunderland, who is not a member of the research team, believes this could be of great assistance to communities suffering from high-level contamination.
Because PFAS have several carbon and fluorine linkages - the strongest bonds in organic chemistry - they have proven notoriously difficult to eliminate.
But their ability to reject liquids - known as omniphobic - is what makes them so valuable to the pharmaceutical and food sectors.
The research group, led by Brittany Trang, discovered a new method for degrading PFAS using sodium hydroxide, a common chemical used in the production of household items such as detergent and analgesics.
They chose a cluster of oxygen atoms with lesser charges that reside at the end of a long tail of carbon-fluorine bonds. The technique essentially "decapitated the head group from the tail," leaving only harmless byproducts.
Trang states that the results are "interesting since our answer is so easy, yet unrecognized."
Camilla Alexander-White, chemicals policy director and fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, says "This might be a breakthrough if it is affordable."
The research team believes that with more work, PFAS might be removed from drinking water and destroyed using this new technique.
