The Use of Algae for the Removal of Perfluorooctane Sulfonic Acid (pfos)

Abstract

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of artificially manufactured compounds, being extensively used for different industrial and commercial products since the mid-twentieth century. There are growing public health concerns about these chemicals due to their toxicity in humans and wildlife, being known carcinogens and disruptors of the endocrine system. Current remediation processes for PFAS often have limited efficiency under conditions of high natural dissolved organic carbon (DOC), high or low solution pH, initial levels of competing pollutants, high dissolved salt concentrations and so on. The main hypothesis for this research was selected algae strains may be able to remove PFAS from contaminated water sources such as wastewater treatment plants and industrial effluents. The main goal of this project was to quantify the effectiveness of several selected fresh water algal species on the removal of PFOS from water media in a laboratory setting.