PFAS are everywhere — so what can science do about it? - The Verge

PFAS earned the nickname "forever chemicals" because they’re often thought of as indestructible. But as concern about PFAS pollution grows, scientists are developing ways to finally destroy the chemicals.

“Forever chemicals” have a reputation for being indestructible, persistent, and just about everywhere — including many places where they shouldn’t be, like our drinking water.

But now, there’s excitement about a new way to essentially smash these molecules to bits so that they don’t cause environmental and health problems. It’s described in research published today in the journal Science. There are caveats to the process, but to many experts’ delight, it’s surprisingly simple for such a tough substance.

“It truly goes against everything I’ve known for the past 10 years. And that’s really cool because someone else can then take this information and exploit it and adapt it to technologies that we need,” says Shira Joudan, an environmental chemist and postdoctoral researcher at York University who is one of the authors of an accompanying perspective on the new research in Science.

The pervasive chemicals are per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, more commonly known as PFAS. They were once believed to be so harmless that they’ve gone into everything from fast food wrappers to non-stick pans, but lately, there’s growing concern about how those chemicals might harm people and the environment. There are many different kinds of PFAS, but their defining trait is that they don’t break down easily — not in the environment and not even in tough conditions like very high temperatures. That resilience has made PFAS sought-after for all kinds of applications since the 1950s, like making things water and stain resistant or to quelch blazes when applied in a firefighting foam.

PFAS get their molecular strength from the particularly hardy bond between carbon and fluorine within the chemical structure of all 9,000 or so different kinds of the chemical. That’s what essentially puts the “forever” in “forever chemicals.” To get rid of PFAS, researchers are trying to figure out how to break those bonds. But it typically takes a lot of effort — like incinerating them at above 700 degrees Celsius (1,292 degrees Fahrenheit).

https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/18/23311752/pfas-forever-chemicals-clean-up-destruction-research

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