A Review of the Treatment Process of Perfluorooctane Compounds in the Waters: Adsorption, Flocculation, and Advanced Oxidative Process

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) are recognized as a new type of refractory organic pollutants. Due to the persistent environmental pollution, bioaccumulation, and biotoxicity of PFCs, they have received extensive attention in recent years. To deal with the environmental risks caused by PFCs, the pollution and distribution of PFCs in the aquatic environment are discussed in detail, mainly for the most widely used PFCs—perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS). The latest progress in the current processing technology of PFOA and PFOS is comprehensively introduced. It includes a variety of physical techniques to remove PFCs such as adsorption and flocculation. It has been confirmed that various adsorbents can play a key role in the enrichment and removal of PFCs through high specific surface area and hydrophobic interaction. In addition, traditional degradation processes are often unsatisfactory for PFCs, prompting the search for more efficient and cost-effective methods, with great progress having been made in advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) based on radical decomposition of pollutants. This review also integrates multiple advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) such as photocatalysis, electrochemical processes, ozone, the Fenton process, and ultrasound. This paper provides an overview of the various PFCs removal techniques and discusses their efficacy. It also explores future possible developments for PFCs elimination technologies for water treatment.