Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology

PFAS Remediation — Mechanisms, Emerging Technologies, and Pathways to Implementation

Special Issue: “PFAS Remediation — Mechanisms, Emerging Technologies, and Pathways to Implementation”

Scope of the Special Issue

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) remain among the most challenging contaminants of the 21st century due to their extreme persistence, complex chemistries, widespread occurrence, and rapidly evolving regulatory landscape. As global demand grows for effective, scalable, and verifiable PFAS treatment solutions, the need for rigorous, mechanism-focused, and critically evaluative reviews has never been greater.

This Special Issue seeks scholarly critical reviews only—submissions of original research papers, short communications, or simple literature surveys will not be considered. We particularly welcome reviews that focus on PFAS in environmental matrices including soil, water, sediment, and air. Submissions should provide in-depth synthesis and authoritative perspectives, critically evaluating the state of the art, identifying knowledge gaps, resolving conflicting findings, and articulating clearly defined research and implementation pathways.

Topics of Interest

We invite critical, evidence-based reviews that address one or more of the following thematic areas:

1. PFAS Separation & Concentration Technologies

• Activated carbon (GAC/PAC), ion-exchange resins, membrane processes (NF/RO), and novel sorbents
• Comparative performance across PFAS classes and environmental matrices (water, air, sediment)
• Connections between environmental partitioning behavior of specific PFAS and the technologies most effective for their separation/concentration
• Lessons learned from pilot- and full-scale applications
• Regeneration of sorptive matrices, including economic viability
• Operational constraints, costs, and scalability considerations

2. PFAS Immobilization in Soils

• Comparative performance of sorptive materials for soil PFAS immobilization
• Approaches for assessing immobilization efficacy
• Longevity and stability of immobilized PFAS in soils
• Regulatory constraints and considerations for re-use of treated soils

3. PFAS Destructive Treatment Technologies

• Electrochemical oxidation/reduction, advanced reduction processes, photocatalysis, sonolysis, thermolysis, pyrolysis, and plasma techniques, supercritical water oxidation, hydrothermal alkaline treatment
• Defluorination mechanisms, energy demands, and byproduct formation
• Critical examination of claims of “complete destruction”
• Comparative performance across PFAS classes and environmental matrices
• Operational constraints, costs, and scalability challenges

4. Biological, Enzymatic, and Hybrid Treatment Approaches

• Natural and engineered biodegradation pathways
• Enzymatic defluorination and biocatalyst design
• Treatment-train and capture-and-destroy systems
• Mechanistic gaps and performance in real water matrices

5. Analytical Advances & Monitoring for Remediation

• Targeted, suspect, and non-target analyses
• Total organofluorine and mass-balance approaches
• Identifying intermediates, transformation products, and false-positive/negative artifacts
• Standards for evaluating treatment effectiveness

6. Environmental Fate, Transformation & Risk Implications

• PFAS precursor transformation pathways
• Toxicity, bioaccumulation, persistence, and mobility of transformation products
• Connections between environmental partitioning behavior of specific PFAS and what treatment technologies are most effective
• Implications for remediation design
• Implications for exposure (ecological / human) and regulatory decision-making

7. Techno-Economics, Lifecycle Impacts & Implementation Pathways

• Techno-economic analyses and life-cycle assessments (environmental impacts, energy use, and material footprints) of PFAS treatment technologies
• Waste management and residual-handling challenges, including viability of regional or site-specific solutions
• Decision frameworks for utilities and policymakers to prioritize treatment relative to other mitigation strategies
• Guidance for selecting the most suitable treatment technologies for specific applications, media, and PFAS classes