Perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS), its occurrence, fate, transport and removal in various environmental media: a review

Abstract

From the past two decades, perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) has been the mostly studied chemical of PFC family, due to its widespread occurrence at global level. The occurrence of PFOS in different environmental media such as surface water, wastewater, sludge/biosolids, groundwater, human and other biota raised concerns about potential hazards to human. Combining various research studies on various aspects of PFOS, this review study summarized worldwide occurrence, fate and transport of PFOS in different environmental media along with the removal technologies for its remediation. With upgrading methods of detection, several countries provided guidelines for PFOS considering human health. It was observed that the natural surface water has higher concentration of PFOS in developed and more industrialized countries than that of developing/undeveloped one. Its occurrence in WWTP effluents indicates the inability of conventional biological treatments toward PFOS removal. PFOS in drinking water became a major route of exposure to human and other animals. Various advanced processes like physical adsorption, membrane filtration and several redox processes showed promising potential toward PFOS removal efficiency. The future challenge is to minimize the cost and increasing the efficiency of these methods. From the literature reviewed, knowledge gaps are identified, and future directions are provided accordingly.