Boiling significantly promotes photodegradation of perfluorooctane sulfonate

The application of photochemical processes for perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) degradation has been limited by a low treatment efficiency. This study reports a significant acceleration of PFOS photodegradation under boiling condition compared with the non-boiling control. The PFOS decomposition rate increased with the increasing boiling intensity, but declined at a higher hydronium level or under oxygenation. These results suggest that the boiling state of solution resulted in higher effective concentrations of reactants at the gas-liquid interface and enhanced the interfacial mass transfer, thereby accelerating the PFOS decomposition. This study broadens our knowledge of PFOS photodegradation process and may have implications for development of efficient photodegradation technologies.