Per-/polyfluorinated species (PFAS) are a class of widely used, highly stable chemicals that do not readily break down in the environment or human body. As a result of their widespread use and persistence in the environment, PFAS can be found in soil, air, and water at numerous sites across the United States. Recent work has linked exposure to some types of PFAS found in the environment to adverse health effects in humans. The bio-accumulative nature of PFAS along with the potential adverse health effects has provided strong motivation for active remediation of these emerging contaminants at environmental sites. Development of energy- and cost-efficient technologies for the in-situ treatment of PFAS-contaminated soils would greatly facilitate efforts to remediate these contaminated sites and alleviate the public health threat they represent.

This talk will discuss recent efforts to develop a tandem electrokinetic/electrocatalytic technology for energy-efficient concentration and destruction of PFAS in contaminated soils. In this approach (Figure A), electrokinetic soil remediation technology is used to drive the PFAS contaminants to a localized area around the electrokinetic anode and electrocatalysis reactors situated near this electrokinetic anode degrade and destroy the concentrated PFAS species. Data will be presented describing the electrokinetic transport observed for various C₄-C₁₂ linear-chain PFAS in a Dayton, OH till soil on the bench scale (see Figure B). Experimental results to date suggest that larger PFAS species (above ~C₆) experience sufficiently strong physicochemical attraction to the soil particles that electrokinetic transport is mostly or completely suppressed. Based on these results, current work is identifying ways to improve electrokinetic PFAS remediation by disrupting these PFAS-soil interactions in a fashion that is economically and environmentally favorable. Results demonstrating the ability to enhance electrocatalytic PFAS destruction through the use of pulsed-waveforms (relative to traditional direct current methods) will also be presented.

Figure Caption. (A) Mechanism of tandem electrokinetic/electrocatalytic PFAS destruction. (B) Bench-scale apparatus for soil electrokinetics tests.