Degradation of OBS (Sodium p-Perfluorous Nonenoxybenzenesulfonate) as a Novel Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance by UV/Persulfate and UV/Sulfite: Fluorinated Intermediates and Treatability in Fluoroprotein Foam

Sodium p-perfluorous nonenoxybenzenesulfonate (OBS) is a novel fluorosurfactant used as the alternative to perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) in several applications such as fire-fighting foams and chemical enhanced oil recovery ("EOR") in China, with the annual production capacity of about 3,500 t. Here, for the first time, we investigated the degradability of OBS under the conditions of UV/persulfate (UV/PS) and UV/sulfite (UV/SF) as typical redox processes. A higher reaction rate (1.05 min–1) and total organic carbon (TOC) reduction (46.9%) but a low defluorination rate (27.6%) along with the formation of a series of fluorinated intermediates were found in UV/PS, while a high defluorination rate (87.7%) was realized in UV/SF. In particular, a nontargeted workflow using high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (HPLC/Q-TOF-MS) was established to detect fluorinated intermediates. Combined with the theoretical calculation, the distinctive degradation pathways in both oxidation and reduction processes were proposed. The degradation mechanism of OBS in UV/SF was proposed to be H/F exchange and subsequent HF elimination. Furthermore, the diluted OBS-based fluoroprotein (FP) foam was used to investigate the degradation of OBS, which confirms the treatability using the redox approach. This work provides insights into the degradability of OBS, fluorinated intermediate search, and proper treatment of related contamination.