Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are a broad group of synthetic chemicals characterized by strong carbon–fluorine bonds, making them highly persistent and widely distributed in the environment. Their chain length and functional head groups, such as sulfonate and carboxylate groups, determine key molecular properties like hydrophobicity, acidity, and sorption behavior. These properties significantly impact the effectiveness of PFAS removal from water systems. This review provides a structural classification of PFASs and explores removal strategies, with a particular emphasis on adsorption. It examines sustainable adsorbents, including both natural materials (e.g., cellulose, chitosan, lignin, and cyclodextrins) and engineered synthetic materials (e.g., covalent organic frameworks, metal–organic frameworks, and molecularly imprinted polymers). The discussion highlights important parameters such as chain length and functional chemistry, as these can greatly influence removal efficiency. Furthermore, the discussion addresses the adsorption mechanisms-such as electrostatic attraction, hydrophobic interaction, and fluorophilic interactions-to show how they contribute in different systems. By combining structural insights with adsorption performance data, this review aims to help design and select sustainable, high-performance adsorbents for efficiently reducing PFASs in contaminated water.

Plastic manufacturing depends heavily on petroleum-derived monomers like terephthalic acid, the main component of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). However, the depletion of fossil resources and increasing environmental concerns have heightened the need for sustainable alternatives. Lignocellulosic biomass has emerged as a promising resource due to its renewable, abundant, and eco-friendly nature. Understanding its chemical composition enables conversion of this biomass into platform chemicals, such as 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) and lactic acid, derived from cellulose and hemicellulose. These can be polymerized into bio-based plastics such as polyethylene furanoate (PEF), polylactic acid (PLA), and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), offering greener alternatives to fossil-based plastics. PEF features rigid furan rings that enhance thermal stability, mechanical strength, and barrier properties, and reduce gas permeability compared to PET. PLA is a renewable, biodegradable plastic widely used in packaging and medical applications. This review covers the chemical composition of lignocellulosic biomass cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, and various pretreatment strategies, chemical, physicochemical, and physical, to overcome biomass recalcitrance and improve conversion efficiency. It also highlights recent catalytic advances in transforming cellulosic carbohydrates into bio-based plastic precursors such as FDCA and lactic acid. Lastly, this review discusses polymerization pathways for producing PEF and PLA, emphasizing their role in reducing the environmental impact of polymer manufacturing and promoting green chemistry principles.

Plastic manufacturing depends heavily on petroleum-derived monomers like terephthalic acid, the main component of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). However, the depletion of fossil resources and increasing environmental concerns have heightened the need for sustainable alternatives. Lignocellulosic biomass has emerged as a promising resource due to its renewable, abundant, and eco-friendly nature. Understanding its chemical composition enables conversion of this biomass into platform chemicals, such as 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) and lactic acid, derived from cellulose and hemicellu-lose. These can be polymerized into bioplastics such as polyethylene furanoate (PEF) and polylactic acid (PLA), offering greener alternatives to fossil-based plastics. PEF features rigid furan rings that enhance thermal stability, mechanical strength, and barrier proper-ties, and reduce gas permeability compared to PET. PLA is a renewable, biodegradable plastic widely used in packaging and medical applications. This review covers the chem-ical makeup of lignocellulosic biomass cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, and various pretreatment strategies, chemical, physicochemical, and physical, to overcome biomass recalcitrance and improve conversion efficiency. It also highlights recent catalytic ad-vances in transforming lignocellulosic carbohydrates into bioplastic precursors such as FDCA and lactic acid. Lastly, the review discusses polymerization pathways for produc-ing PEF and PLA, emphasizing their role in reducing the environmental impact of poly-mer manufacturing and promoting green chemistry principles.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are synthetic fluorinated compounds widely recognized for their stability and persistence in the environment. These characteristics make PFAS valuable in many applications but also pose serious health risks because they do not break down easily. These chemicals can accumulate in living organisms and persist in water systems. PFAS typically transfer from water to other media rather than being completely degraded by conventional treatment technologies such as adsorption and membrane filtration. Chemical degradation techniques, i.e., advanced oxidation processes or electrochemical conversions, require harsh reaction conditions, which make them unsustainable. Microbial degradation offers a green, sustainable alternative for PFAS remediation in water. This review critically analyzes advances in the use of bacterial, fungal, and microbial consortia for PFAS transformation via reductive and oxidative defluorination and/or metabolic reactions. Later, the influence of PFAS structural attributes, i.e., chain length and functional head groups, on microbial activities has been discussed. In the following section, the current progress toward the complete mineralization of PFAS is evaluated. Considering the critical evaluation of microbial degradation processes, several research gaps have been identified, including the lack of detailed mechanistic studies of enzymatic degradation pathways, the need to optimize microbial systems for the sustainable degradation of PFAS, and the integration of biological approaches with other technologies to achieve complete PFAS mineralization. The most important is scaling up microbial techniques by cost evaluation of the process to compete with other physicochemical techniques.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are synthetic fluorinated compounds widely recognized for their stability and persistence in the environment. These characteristics make PFAS valuable in many applications but also pose serious health risks because they do not break down easily. These chemicals can accumulate in living organisms and persist in water systems. PFAS typically transfer from water to other media rather than being completely degraded by conventional treatment technologies such as adsorption and membrane filtration. Chemical degradation techniques, i.e., advanced oxidation processes or electrochemical conversions, require harsh reaction conditions, which make them unsustainable. Microbial degradation offers a green, sustainable alternative for PFAS remediation in water. This review critically analyzes advances in the use of bacterial, fungal, and microbial consortia for PFAS transformation via reductive and oxidative defluorination and/or metabolic reactions. Later, the influence of PFAS structural attributes, i.e., chain length and functional head groups, on microbial activities has been discussed. In the following section, the current progress toward the complete mineralization of PFAS is evaluated. Considering the critical evaluation of microbial degradation processes, several research gaps have been identified, including the lack of detailed mechanistic studies of enzymatic degradation pathways, the need to optimize microbial systems for the sustainable degradation of PFAS, and the integration of biological approaches with other technologies to achieve complete PFAS mineralization.