Ion exchange removal and resin regeneration to treat per- and polyfluoroalkyl ether acids and other emerging PFAS in drinking water
Abstract
Ion exchange (IX) is a promising technology to remove legacy anionic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from water. As increasing numbers of per- and polyfluoroalkyl ether acids (PFEA) and other emerging PFAS were detected in the environment, it is necessary to understand how well IX resins remove these emerging PFAS for drinking water treatment. In this study, nine commercially available IX resins were tested to treat a drinking water source spiked with 40 legacy and emerging PFAS at 600 ng/L, including PFEA, perfluoroalkyl carboxylic and sulfonic acids, fluorotelomer sulfonic acids, perfluoroalkane sulfonamides, perfluoroalkane sulfonamidoacetic acids, and zwitterionic species. With limited contact time (15 min), PFAS properties such as the fluorinated chain length, charge, and functional groups all affected PFAS adsorption to resins. However, the impact of PFAS properties on PFAS removal became less pronounced when the contact time increased beyond 2 h, while the resin polymer matrix became the critical factor for PFAS removal. All five tested polystyrene-divinylbenzene (PS-DVB) resins achieved more than 90% removal in 24 h of 35 PFAS compounds, while polymethacrylate and polyacrylic resins achieved >90% removal for less than half of the compounds. Regenerating PS-DVB resin was investigated using different salt species, regenerant pH, brine concentrations, and methanol contents. Sodium chloride and ammonium chloride were found the best brines for regenerating the tested resins. Increasing brine concentrations enhanced the regeneration efficiency, especially for short-chain PFAS. Using simple salt regenerants, up to 94% of selected short-chain PFAS was released from resins designed for general water treatment, but no meaningful regeneration was achieved for long-chain PFAS or PFAS-specific resins when the organic solvent content was less than 20%.
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Liu and Sun reported that polystyrene-divinylbenzene resins achieve more than 90% removal of 35 PFAS from groundwater spiked with 40 PFAS at 600 ng/L in 24 h.
“Liu and Sun [52] reported that polystyrene-divinylbenzene resins achieve more than 90% removal of 35 PFAS from drinking water source (groundwater) spiked with 40 PFAS at 600 ng/L in 24 h.”
From A Mini-Review of Full-Scale Drinking Water Treatment Plants for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Removal: Possible Solutions and Future Directions (2025) · cites this paper as Liu and Sun [52]
Regeneration efficiency was increased by enhancing brine concentrations from 0.01% to 10%, particularly for short-chain PFAS.
“Furthermore, regeneration efficiency was increased by enhancing brine concentrations from 0.01% to 10%, particularly for short-chain PFAS [52].”
From A Mini-Review of Full-Scale Drinking Water Treatment Plants for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Removal: Possible Solutions and Future Directions (2025) · cites this paper as [52]
Salts in the chloride form (e.g., sodium chloride and ammonium chloride) were reported to be effective for resin regeneration.
“Also, salts in the chloride form (e.g., sodium chloride and ammonium chloride) were reported to be effective for resins regeneration.”
From A Mini-Review of Full-Scale Drinking Water Treatment Plants for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Removal: Possible Solutions and Future Directions (2025) · cites this paper as [52]
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“In a previous study, PFAS removal decreased for the following polymer composition of the resin: polystyrene ≈ polymethacrylate > polyacrylic regardless of other resin properties (Liu & Sun, 2021).”
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“In general, the removal of PFAS increases with an increased PS content (Liu and Sun, 2021; Yuan et al., 2022).”
Ion Exchange Resins to Reduce Boron in Desalinated Seawater for Irrigation in Southeastern Spain
Imbernón-Mulero, A., Gallego-Elvira, B., Álvarez, V. M., Górriz, B. M., Molina-del-Toro, R., Jódar-Conesa, F. J., & Maestre-Valero, J. F. (2022) · Agronomy · doi:10.3390/agronomy12061389 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
“This aspect is also conditioned by the resin itself, whose greater or lesser regeneration depends on the used reagents [31,52].”
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“Many studies have focused on the technical feasibility of removing of PFAS from environmental media (Berg et al., 2022; Jin et al., 2021; Liu & Sun, 2021).”
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Analysis of per-and polyfluorinated alkyl substances by chromatography-mass spectrometry: A review
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Characterizing PFAS concentrations in drinking water treatment residuals
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Alkylamine-Modified Dialdehyde Cellulose Nanofibers for PFAS Adsorption
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Piezoelectric Ball Milling Treatment of PFAS-Laden Spent Resins
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“These longer-chain PFAS have increased hydrophobicity which promotes their retention in paper’s organic, cellulose lattice (Liu and Sun 2021).”
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Occurrence and treatment of emerging contaminants in water: A comprehensive review
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“…and/or organic solvents (e.g., methanol, ethanol, and pro-panol), which generates toxic PFAS-containing regener-ant waste to challenge the residual management and disposal (Boyer et al., 2021; Dixit et al., 2022; Dixit, Dutta, et al., 2021; Du et al., 2014; Lei et al., 2023; Liu & Sun, 2021).”
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- Authors
- Liu, Y.-L., & Sun, M.
- Affiliations
- University of North Carolina at Charlotte (US)
- Corresponding author
- Sun, Mei
- Venue
- Water Research
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2021-12
- Volume
- 207
- Pages
- 117781
- ISSN
- 0043-1354 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3209854505
- Cited by
- 184
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 46 · 2025: 62 · 2024: 34 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 19
- FWCI
- 7.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Water Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances research
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Fluoride Effects and Removal
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Water Treatment and Disinfection
- Keywords
- ion exchange, emerging PFAS, drinking water treatment, resin regeneration, styrene-divinylbenzene copolymer, polyacrylic resin, PFAS adsorption, contact time, short-chain PFAS, perfluorinated carboxylic acids, perfluoroalkyl sulfonic acids
- MeSH terms
- Ether, Ethers, Fluorocarbons, Ion Exchange, Water Pollutants, Chemical, Drinking Water
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