PFAS in textile wastewater: an integrated approach to reduce the environmental risk for their mixture

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), used in several industrial applications, are gaining increasing concern due to their spread in the environment, their stability and eco-toxicity. To avoid PFAS spread in the environment, reducing the environmental risk on receiving water bodies, removal strategies need to be implemented at both industrial and municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). This study presents a case study in a textile district in northern Italy where PFAS monitoring campaigns were combined with testing at lab and pilot-scale of two promising removal processes (membrane separation, adsorption on activated carbon) and data used for environmental risk assessment. This combination was proved to be useful to support the identification of the optimal combination of prevention and treatment interventions to be applied at different system points to reduce the environmental risk.