Health & Environmental Research Online (HERO)


Print Feedback Export to File
5079967 
Journal Article 
Selection of High Flux Membrane for the Effective Removal of Short-Chain Perfluorocarboxylic Acids 
Soriano, A; Gorri, D; Urtiaga, Ane 
2019 
Yes 
Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research
ISSN: 0888-5885
EISSN: 1520-5045 
American Chemical Society 
58 
3329-3338 
English 
Nowadays persistent perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA) ubiquity in the environment is a result of its increasing use as substitute of longer chain perfluorocarboxylic acids. In this study, five nanofiltration (NF270, NF90) and reverse osmosis (XLE, BW30 and SW3OXLE) membranes were analyzed in the separation of PFHxA at elevated concentrations (100 mg L-1) relevant in industrial effluents of the production of fluorinated polymers. Experiments assessed the influence of the operation pressure, pH, and ionic strength. The NF270 membrane achieved the highest permeate flux, although PFHxA rejection was typically the lowest of all membranes and was negatively affected in the acidic pH range. The NF90, XLE, and BW30 membranes achieved PFHxA observed rejections over 99%, but only NF90 and XLE membranes attained suitable water permeability. Finally, both XLE and NF90 membranes were selected to provide the lowest PFHxA concentration in the permeate (0.2 mg L-1 at 10 bar). However, when the ionic strength was further increased the electrostatic repulsion to perfluorohexanoate was weakened and the size exclusion mechanism contribution increased, thus making the membranes more permeable to PFHxA. Our results demonstrate that proper selection of NF/RO membranes is a critical issue for the design of treatments for industrial effluents containing short chain PFCAs. 
PFAS
• Expanded PFAS SEM (formerly PFAS 430)
     Perfluorooctane
• PFAS Universe
     Data Source
          Web of Science
     Perfluorohexanoate
     Perfluorohexanoic acid
     Perfluorooctane
• PFHxA
     LitSearch Update: Feb 2018 - May 2019
          WoS
     Literature Search
          WOS
     LitSearch Update: May 2019 - May 2020
          WoS
     Scopus: April 2021
     HAWC
OW - HHRAB
• PFOA (335-67-1) and PFOS (1763-23-1)
     Literature Search Update (2013-2019)
          WOS