Engineering the “Forever Chemicals” Exit: Destructive Technologies for PFAS Mineralization Beyond Adsorption and Containment

ABSTRACT

Per‐ and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are exceptionally persistent environmental contaminants for which conventional adsorption and containment processes provide aqueous‐phase removal without eliminating the underlying organofluorine hazard. This critical integrative review evaluates destructive PFAS treatment through evidence on reaction mechanism, parent‐compound disappearance, partial degradation, defluorination, full mineralization, energy demand, byproduct formation, matrix effects, and deployment maturity. The technologies examined comprise electrochemical oxidation, advanced oxidation‐reduction processes that generate hydrated electrons, non‐thermal plasma, supercritical water oxidation, sonolysis, and thermal or hydrothermal routes. Adsorption is treated objectively as an essential concentration step in integrated concentrate‐and‐destroy treatment trains rather than as a terminal remediation process. To improve cross‐technology comparison, the review introduces Organofluorine Conversion Efficiency, which quantifies conversion of organically bound fluorine to recovered inorganic fluoride without implying destruction of elemental fluorine, together with fluorine mass‐balance closure, specific energy consumption, electric energy per order, and byproduct verification. A nine‐level PFAS Destruction Readiness Level framework is also formalized using explicit criteria for analytical confirmation, matrix realism, continuous operation, energy and cost evidence, residual management, independent validation, and regulatory acceptance. The synthesis shows that advanced reduction and cooperative redox pathways can overcome limitations of hydroxyl‐radical‐dominated oxidation for selected PFAS, but performance remains strongly matrix‐ and scale‐dependent. The proposed framework provides regulators, utilities, researchers, and technology developers with a consistent basis for distinguishing molecular disappearance from verified, deployable mineralization.