Life Cycle Analysis for PFOS Decomposition in Supercritical Water

Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) could be commonly detected in water bodies around many cities in China recently, which mainly comes from the industrial production and utilization in the fabric processing, metal plating, semiconductor manufacturing and fire-fighting foam. China is currently one of the few countries with increasing PFOS production and usage, so the treatment and safe disposal of PFOS pollutants is critical to effectively protect human health from those toxic chemicals. Life cycle assessment (LCA) by Simapro 7.2 was carried out in this paper to study the environmental impacts concerned with the treatment of PFOS in supercritical water, and proven process for the decomposition of PFOS pollutants with high concentration. This study focuses on not only the main environmental factors from emissions of toxic pollutants, but also the influence from technical characteristics of the iron-induced supercritical water technology including energy and substances consumption during treatment processes. The results of LCA were supposed to be provided for the environmental officials and factory managers as a theoretical basis for the PFOS technology selection and management. (C) 2012 Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Basel Convention Coordinating Centre for Asia and the Pacific and National Center of Solid Waste Management, Ministry of Environmental Protection of China.