Abstract
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are carcinogenic and environmentally persistent contaminants, necessitating their efficient removal to protect environmental and human health. In this study, a series of fluorinated, non-PFAS-based magnetic polymer sorbents is developed for the selective removal of multiple PFAS from landfill leachate containing high levels of co-contaminants. Crosslinked polymer networks are shown to enhance both magnetic separation and PFAS sorption performance. The magnetic sorbent with a higher proportion of quaternary ammonium groups and a lower proportion of fluorinated segments shows improved sorption kinetics for most PFAS and greater sorption capacity for perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS), the most abundant compound in the tested landfill leachate. However, this formulation exhibits lower sorption selectivity and reduced equilibrium removal efficiencies when PFAS are present at low initial concentrations. A compact and portable treatment device is constructed to simulate practical deployment. The system achieves high PFAS removal efficiencies (>90% for the majority of PFAS) and maintains good regeneration and reusability over five sorption-desorption cycles at environmentally relevant concentrations. Compared to four commercially available sorbents, the developed magnetic polymer sorbents exhibit superior performance in PFAS removal, indicating their potential as efficient candidates for remediating PFAS from landfill leachate.