Low power degradation of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) in water using a nanosecond pulsed atmospheric pressure plasma

Abstract The prevalence and persistence of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) has led to significant concerns over the damage they can have on human health and the environment, particularly when they contaminate bodies of water. In this work, a plasma driven with high-voltage (20 kV) pulses of varying duration (50–400 ns) and frequency (0.5–10 kHz) is investigated for degrading perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) in water. The concentration of PFOS in solution decreased with repeated passes through the reactor. Increasing the power consumption of the plasma, either by increasing the pulse width or the frequency, improved the rate of PFOS loss but decreased the energy efficiency. For instance, reducing the frequency of the pulse from 10 kHz to 500 Hz decreased the power consumption by over an order of magnitude while requiring about twice as much time to reduce 50% of the PFOS signal. Time-averaged emission spectroscopy showed that increasing the frequency decreased the average electron density of the plasma while infrared measurements indicate only a modest increase to the temperature of the reactor. In contrast, increasing the pulse width from 50 ns to 400 ns did not have a significant impact on the average electron density or the reactor temperature. Spectroscopy revealed the presence of photons with energies >5 eV which could contribute to PFOS loss. This work shows that the main factor determining PFOS loss is the contact time between the plasma reactor and the solution, which implies the most energy efficient operating parameters for PFOS degradation comes from minimizing the duration and frequency of the high-voltage pulses to reduce power consumption.