Two new papers published in Nature describe a potentially game-changing scientific discovery: an efficient way to break down "forever chemicals" in what is being called "a major step forward."
You've likely heard of them referred to as PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. And they're simply everywhere: the tops of mountains, the ocean, even falling with raindrops. PFAS were implemented to keep eggs from sticking to nonstick pans and rain from penetrating rain jackets. They're in packaging, cosmetics, and pretty much everything plastic, it seems.
They're called forever chemicals because it's very difficult to break the bond between the carbon and fluorine atoms that make up PFAS compounds.
Until now.
Chemists at Colorado State University and the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei have learned how to use a catalyst combined with lightwaves to either weaken or break the bond entirely.
Ideally, these techniques could be replicated at scale at landfill and wastewater treatment plants to break up PFAS before they are introduced to groundwater, the ocean, or soils.
Scientists already knew how to dissolve these bonds in a chemical process, but that requires a huge amount of energy in the form of heat to get the job done. But, these new methods can work at lower temperatures, making them far more efficient.
Governmental and international bodies are already trying to either ban the production of PFAS for use in common items and to keep them from the water supply. The Environmental Protection Agency, for instance, has proposed to limit the amount of two dangerous PFAS compounds, PFOA and PFOS, to 4 parts per trillion in drinking water. That minute amount is just barely detectable in a lab.
But, according to Nature, research has shown that even minuscule amounts of PFAS can raise the risk of cancer in humans. Studies have found that PFAS likely contaminate the drinking water of at least 200 million people in the United States.
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These new techniques that have the potential to destroy these nearly indestructible compounds would, therefore, be a potential boost to human health worldwide.
"The world is belatedly starting to act," according to Nature, "both to stop forever chemicals entering the environment and to clean up those already there. But more action is needed — and faster."
These breakthroughs are certainly helping to speed up that process.
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