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The-Animus t1_j5jxnbv wrote

Does this solution coat other things in the water that could get removed along with the forever chemicals? Does some of the magnetic solution stay in the water after the process? Could either of these be problematic?

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lightsails t1_j5k6xh2 wrote

From my reading of the study the magnetic fluorinated polymer sorbent would only coat the fluorinated compounds which are not naturally occurring. Likely some of the magnetic solution would stay in the water but you'd much rather have that then PFAS/PFOA

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fashionably_l8 t1_j5lezm9 wrote

I guess a small amount would stay in the water (nothing in chemistry is ever completed to a true 100%), but as long as the sorbent is magnetized itself (as in it doesn’t rely on attaching to the PFAS to become magnetic) it should be collected by the magnet whether it manages to bond to a PFAS or not. You might be able to leave an extremely trivial amount in the water by running it through enough magnets.

Edit: I forgot why I wrote this in the context of the comment chain. Even if the sorbent bonds to the wrong thing, it should still be pulled out by the magnets (minus whatever small amount gets left behind). Assuming the sorbent comes in magnetized and does not rely on the PFAS to become magnetized.

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