Polyfluorinated Organic Micropollutants Removal from Water by Ion Exchange and Adsorption

Polyfluorinated organic micropollutants have been recently found in ground water in some industrialized areas of Veneto Region (north-east Italy). Very recent studies evidenced their presence also in River Lambro near Milan (Castiglioni et al, 2015). These compounds can be removed by adsorption on activated carbon with high efficiency, but frequent regeneration is requested especially because of polyfluorobutylic acid (PFBA) and polyfluorobutyl sulfonate (PFBS) that saturate activated carbon much more quickly than heavier molecules as polyfluoro-octanoic acid (PFOA) and polyfluoroctyl sulfonate (PFOS). In this research work an alternative solution based on ion exchange resins and/or polystyirenic adsorbents was tested both in laboratory with batch tests and on pilot-scale with a continuously fed plant. Experimental work is still in progress and is focused on five different materials supplied by Purolite® Italia and called respectively A600E, PAD500, PAD428, A520E and MN102