Perfluoroalkyl chain-length-dependent environmental fate and treatment outcomes of PFAS in water
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This review elucidates physicochemical distinctions between short- and long-chain PFAS, including hydrophobicity, molecular volume, and C–F bond dissociation energy, and discusses their implications for environmental fate. Building on this framework, recent comparative studies examining chain-length-dependent PFAS removal efficiency and the associated mechanisms across non-destructive treatment processes were consolidated. In addition, this review clarifies the treatment-specific PFAS responses and mechanistic pathways involving defluorination and carbon-backbone cleavage during destructive processes.
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Chain length is a primary determinant of PFAS partitioning, with short-chain PFAS preferably remaining in the aqueous phase and long-chain PFAS adsorbing to sediment or suspended particles.
“Chain length is a primary determinant, with short-chain PFAS preferably remaining in the aqueous phase and long-chain PFAS adsorbing to sediment or suspended particles.”
From Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Surface Water and Fluvial Sediments of a Rural Gulf Coast Watershed: A Year-long Spatiotemporal Assessment (2026) · cites this paper as [17]
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Free energy convergence in short- and long-length hydrophobic hydration
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Flagged first, then by citations
2 of the 125 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Research works printed but not linked: 8
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“Solubility is inversely proportional to chain length, dictating their distribution between aqueous phases and solid matrices like soil or sediment [14].”
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A fluorine-centered framework for energy-normalized evaluation of PFAS destruction technologies.
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“Consequently, PFOA is generally more mobile and more readily transported in aquatic environments, whereas PA may exhibit a stronger affinity for the solid phase and may persist in soil and sediments for extended periods [13,14].”
Data-Driven Molecular Design of TFC Membrane Monomers with Reduced PFAS Affinity.
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“In contrast, long-chain PFAS, which possess larger fluorocarbon backbones and stronger hydrophobicity, are more likely to partition from the aqueous phase into sediments, organic matter, and biological tissues, thereby exhibiting higher environmental persistence [39,40].”
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“Regarding the risk of PFAS exposure, chain length, functional groups, hydrophobicity, salinity, organic content and interaction with sediments are important factors, where long-chain PFAS tends to accumulate better than many short-chain PFAS [51].”
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“…were taken from the head of the springs, the elevated short-chain compositions in Comal Springs may be attributed to the high mobility of short-chain compounds and possible adsorption of long-chain compounds onto sediment and carbonates below the surface (Kannan et al., 2025; Lee et al., 2026)..”
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- Authors
- Lee, Y.-J., Moon, G., Cha, H., Lee, J., & Kwon, E. E.
- Affiliations
- Hanyang University (KR)
- Sungkyunkwan University (KR)
- Corresponding author
- Kwon, Eilhann E.
- Venue
- npj Clean Water
- Published
- 2026-03-05
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 1
- ISSN
- 2059-7037 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W7133899908
- Cited by
- 29
- References
- 125
- Citations by year
- 2026: 29
- FWCI
- 56.50
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- npj Clean Water (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Ministry of Science and ICT, South Korea (RS-2023-NR077231)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances research
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Advanced oxidation water treatment
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Environmental remediation with nanomaterials
- Keywords
- perfluorinated compounds, PFAS, chain length, environmental fate, water treatment, PFAS removal, hydrophobicity, molecular volume, defluorination
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