For more than 70 years, so-called ‘forever chemicals’ have been used to make products all around us, from non-stick cookware to fabrics, food packaging and more. But they’ve also been linked to serious health consequences, including several types of cancer. Now, the seemingly permanent substances may need a new nickname, as scientists have discovered how to break down, destroy and recycle them.
As fans of Mark Ruffalo and the 2019 film Dark Waters already know, per- and polyperfluoroalkylated substances (PFAS) are a huge problem for both the environment and our health.
That's because PFAS are notoriously difficult to get rid of – until now. Scientists at the University of Oxford, working with Colorado State University in the US, have developed a new method that not only destroys PFAS but also recovers useful elements from them.
“The destruction of PFAS with phosphate salts is an exciting innovation, offering a simple yet powerful solution to a longstanding environmental challenge,” said Dr Long Yang, a chemist at the University of Oxford and one of the lead authors of the study published in Nature.
“With this effective PFAS destruction method, we hope to shift away from the notion of PFAS as ‘forever chemicals.’”
So, how did they do it? First, the scientists reacted PFAS samples with potassium phosphate salts. Then, they ground the PFAS and salts together using ball bearings (small metal balls used in machinery).
PFAS are chemicals with multiple, very strong carbon-fluorine bonds. But, in this study, the scientists were able to use this method to break those bonds and extract the fluorine content for use elsewhere.
This is important, the scientists explained, because we currently rely on a mineral called fluorspar as the primary source of our fluorine: a chemical used in many different industries, including making statins and herbicides.
Prof Véronique Gouverneur, a chemist at Oxford who led the study, said: “Fluoride recovery is important because our reserves of fluorspar, essential for the manufacturing of, for example, life-saving medicines, are rapidly depleting due to extensive mining.”
That means this method could be, in theory, a win-win: not only getting rid of PFAS but recycling their components to help other industries.
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