PROMISCES - Preventing Recalcitrant Organic Mobile Industrial chemicalS for Circular Economy in the Soil-sediment-water system - 101036449

Part of EU Open Research Repository
Published October 6, 2025 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Effect of Hydrophobic Cross-Linkers in Strong Base Gel-Type Resins on the Adsorption Kinetics and Capacity for Perfluoroalkyl Substances

Authors/Creators

  • 1. ROR icon Freie Universität Berlin
  • 2. EDMO icon Technical University of Berlin
  • 3. ROR icon Berliner Wasserbetriebe (Germany)
  • 4. EDMO icon German Environment Agency
  • 5. ROR icon Technische Universität Berlin
  • 6. German Environment Agency (UBA)

Description

The persistence and water mobility of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have led authorities worldwide to lower regulatory limits to prevent adverse health effects. Removal via adsorption on activated carbon can be inefficient due to the unspecific surface interaction, while ion exchange resins with positive charges and hydrophobic chains can offer faster kinetics and improved removal. In here, novel cationic resins were synthesized by crosslinking polyethylenimine, followed by methylation. To obtain cross-linked particles and introduce hydrophobic interacting moieties in one single synthetic
step, aliphatic, fluorous, and silicone-based oligoethers were used as cross-linkers. These cationic adsorbents were compared with two state-of-the-art strong base gel-type ion exchange resins and granular activated carbon in isotherm and kinetic studies. The newly developed adsorbents showed significantly faster removals of all tested long- and short-chain PFAS. The fluorous cationic adsorbent achieved equilibrium loadings that were comparable to those of the state-of-the-art adsorbents for all PFAS with five or more perfluorinated carbon atoms.

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Funding

European Commission
PROMISCES - Preventing Recalcitrant Organic Mobile Industrial chemicalS for Circular Economy in the Soil-sediment-water system 101036449