Per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, known commonly as PFAS, could take over 40 years to flush out of contaminated groundwater in North Carolina's Cumberland and Bladen counties, according to a new study from North Carolina State University. The study used a novel combination of data on PFAS, groundwater age-dating tracers, and groundwater flux to forecast PFAS concentrations in groundwater discharging to tributaries of the Cape Fear River in North Carolina.
@I_am_10_squirrels @ProdigalFrog There is more to it than just molecules getting “trapped in pore spaces” and it’s a little complicated.
Activated carbon (and its more affordable, carbon-sequestering cousin #biochar) has functional attachment points on the edges of ring and plate molecular structures. These can attract and retain some substances from solution.
But the real fun happens when we add dopants. Other molecules present in the carbon matrix supercharge the chemical potential.
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@I_am_10_squirrels @ProdigalFrog The most exciting announcement I’ve seen in a long time is this one:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s44172-024-00267-4
Adding iron to biochar gives it the ability to adsorb *and* destroy PFAS in contaminated water. This is a product that can be produced relatively cheaply and contribute to drawdown of atmospheric CO2, and effectively degrades hazardous fluorocarbon pollutants with minimal disposal headaches after the fact.
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