Evaluation of Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) for Efficient Removal of Fluorotelomer Olefin (FTO)

The presence of fluorotelomer in the environment, originating from perfluoroethyl iodide (PFEI), a precursor to perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs), emphasizes the necessity for routine monitoring to assess their environmental impact. In this study, the efficacy of fluorotelomer olefin (FTO) removal from aqueous solution using granular activated carbon (GAC) was evaluated. Three parameters were optimised including adsorbent dosage, contact time, and initial FTO concentration. The surface morphology, surface area, and pore size of the GAC were characterised using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET). Under optimized conditions: 12.5 mg/L of GAC dosage, 5 hours of adsorption contact time, and 400 mg/L of FTO initial concentration, 84%-94% of FTO was successfully removed from the aqueous solution. The GAC exhibited a rough surface morphology with mesopores size of GAC, which may be attributed to the fast removal of FTO. Notably, the presence of different concentrations of interfering PFAS compounds did not significantly affect FTO removal. These findings highlight the potential of GAC as a promising adsorbent for the removal of FTO from aqueous solutions.

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