Simple method destroys dangerous 'forever chemicals,' making water safe
There is some good news if you've been depressed by recent revelations that dangerous man-made chemicals known as PFAS, which may persist for thousands of years and make even rainfall unfit to drink, have completely invaded Earth's water supplies. Chemists at UCLA and Northwestern University have created a straightforward method to degrade over a dozen different kinds of these "forever compounds" at relatively low temperatures without creating any negative consequences. In a paper published today in the journal Science, the researchers demonstrate that in water heated to just 176 to 248 degrees Fahrenheit, common, inexpensive solvents and reagents severed some of the strongest known PFAS molecular bonds, starting a chemical reaction that "gradually nibbled away at the molecule" until it was gone, according to Kendall Houk, distinguished research professor at UCLA and co-corresponding author. There is no upper limit to the amount of water that may be handled ...