PFAS regulation and treatment continue to develop rapidly in 2026. Since our first PFAS Summer 2026 Update, several important developments have emerged in Europe and the United States, including new EU restrictions on PFAS in food-contact packaging, new U.S. EPA guidance on PFAS in biosolids, and continued developments around U.S. drinking-water requirements.

At the same time, the focus is increasingly shifting from simply removing PFAS from water to understanding what happens to PFAS after treatment.

Three technologies remain particularly important:

• Activated carbon
• Ion exchange
• Reverse osmosis

However, these technologies do not all handle PFAS in the same way — and activated carbon has an important advantage when thermal reactivation and PFAS destruction are considered.

Latest PFAS developments in summer 2026

EU PFAS restrictions for food packaging take effect

One of the most recent PFAS developments occurred in the European Union.

From August 12, 2026, the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) applies restrictions on PFAS in food-contact packaging above specified limits. The European Commission identifies the measure as part of the EU's broader approach to reducing PFAS pollution.

PFAS have historically been used in some food packaging because of their resistance to grease, water and heat.

The new requirements are significant because they target PFAS before they enter the waste and environmental system.

This represents an important part of the wider PFAS strategy:

Reduce PFAS use → prevent releases → treat existing contamination → manage concentrated PFAS waste

EPA addresses PFAS in biosolids

The U.S. EPA also released draft guidance in July 2026 addressing the risks associated with PFOA and PFOS in biosolids.

Biosolids are an important part of the PFAS challenge because PFAS can move through wastewater treatment and become concentrated in residual streams.

The EPA guidance is intended to help wastewater utilities, farmers, landowners and regulators reduce potential risks associated with PFOA and PFOS in biosolids.

This highlights an important principle in PFAS treatment:

Removing PFAS from water does not necessarily mean destroying PFAS.

The final destination of the captured PFAS is therefore becoming an increasingly important part of treatment-system design.

PFAS treatment technologies in 2026

For contaminated drinking water and other water applications, three technologies remain particularly important:

1. Activated carbon

2. Ion exchange

3. Reverse osmosis

Each technology has different strengths and limitations.

1. Activated Carbon for PFAS Removal and Destruction

Granular activated carbon (GAC) is one of the most established technologies for PFAS removal.

PFAS molecules are adsorbed onto the large internal surface area of the activated carbon. Performance depends on factors such as PFAS type, carbon properties, natural organic matter, concentration and empty bed contact time (EBCT).

Activated carbon is particularly well established for longer-chain PFAS such as PFOA and PFOS, although performance can vary considerably between different PFAS and water qualities.

EPA describes activated carbon as one of the most extensively studied technologies for PFAS removal.

But GAC can do more than simply capture PFAS

One important advantage of activated carbon is what can happen to the carbon after it has become loaded with PFAS.

Instead of automatically treating spent carbon as waste, GAC can be sent for thermal reactivation.

During appropriate high-temperature reactivation processes, PFAS can be destroyed. EPA's 2026 interim guidance specifically discusses evidence for PFAS destruction during full-scale reactivation of PFAS-loaded GAC and the importance of controlling and treating the resulting off-gases.

This creates an important treatment cycle:

PFAS-contaminated water → GAC adsorption → thermal reactivation → PFAS destruction → regenerated carbon

The exact destruction performance depends on the reactivation process, operating conditions and off-gas treatment. Therefore, reactivation should not automatically be described as complete PFAS destruction in every system.

Nevertheless, it makes activated carbon particularly interesting when considering the full PFAS lifecycle rather than simply measuring PFAS removal from water.

2. Ion Exchange for PFAS Removal

Ion exchange (IX) uses specially selected resins to capture PFAS from water.

Ion exchange can provide very high PFAS removal and can be particularly attractive where:

• PFAS concentrations are relatively high
• Short-chain PFAS are important
• A compact treatment system is required
• High treatment capacity is needed

The performance of ion exchange depends strongly on the resin and water chemistry.

Like activated carbon, ion exchange primarily transfers PFAS out of the water.

The PFAS therefore remains associated with the spent or regenerated resin and requires appropriate management, regeneration, disposal or downstream destruction.

This makes residual management an important part of an ion-exchange PFAS treatment system.

3. Reverse Osmosis for PFAS Removal

Reverse osmosis (RO) uses pressure and a semipermeable membrane to separate PFAS and many other dissolved contaminants from water.

RO can achieve very high PFAS rejection and is particularly attractive when extremely low PFAS concentrations are required or when the water contains multiple contaminants.

However, RO has an important limitation:

PFAS is concentrated rather than destroyed.

The rejected PFAS ends up in the RO concentrate or brine stream.

Consequently, an RO system can produce excellent treated water while simultaneously creating a smaller, highly concentrated PFAS waste stream that requires further management.

Energy consumption, membrane fouling and concentrate disposal also need to be considered.

PFAS removal vs. PFAS destruction

This distinction is becoming increasingly important.

PFAS removal

The PFAS concentration in the treated water is reduced.

Examples include:

GAC → PFAS adsorbed

Ion exchange → PFAS captured

RO → PFAS rejected

PFAS destruction

The PFAS molecule itself is broken down into other compounds through an appropriate destruction process.

This is why GAC reactivation is particularly interesting.

The activated carbon initially acts as a PFAS removal medium. The subsequent thermal reactivation process can potentially address the PFAS captured on the carbon while restoring the carbon for reuse.

The EPA's 2026 interim guidance recognizes thermal treatment and GAC reactivation among approaches being evaluated for PFAS destruction and disposal.

The future of PFAS treatment

The future is unlikely to be about one technology replacing all others.

Instead, treatment systems may increasingly combine separation, concentration and destruction.

For example:

Activated carbon → reactivation and destruction

or

RO → PFAS concentration → downstream treatment

or

Ion exchange → PFAS capture → regeneration/destruction

The right treatment train depends on the application.

For drinking-water systems, the immediate priority remains achieving extremely low PFAS concentrations reliably. For industrial and wastewater applications, however, the question increasingly becomes what happens to the PFAS-containing residuals after treatment.

What the latest PFAS developments mean

The summer of 2026 reinforces three major trends.

1. PFAS regulation is expanding

The EU is now applying PFAS limits to food-contact packaging, while the U.S. continues to develop its approach to drinking water and PFAS-containing residuals.

2. PFAS treatment is becoming more sophisticated

Water treatment systems increasingly need to consider individual PFAS compounds, water chemistry, breakthrough, treatment capacity and long-term operating performance.

3. PFAS destruction is becoming as important as PFAS removal

Capturing PFAS is only one part of the solution.

The next question is:

What happens to the PFAS after it has been removed from the water?

Activated carbon with appropriate thermal reactivation is particularly interesting because the treatment cycle can combine PFAS removal, carbon regeneration and potential PFAS destruction.

Conclusion

PFAS regulation is continuing to evolve in 2026, but the fundamental treatment challenge remains the same: how can PFAS be reliably removed from contaminated water while minimizing the long-term environmental impact of the captured PFAS?

Activated carbon, ion exchange and reverse osmosis are three of the most important PFAS treatment technologies available today.

Activated carbon provides an especially interesting option because PFAS-loaded GAC can potentially undergo thermal reactivation and PFAS destruction, allowing the carbon to be reused rather than simply discarded.

For many applications, the future of PFAS treatment will therefore not be about choosing between removal and destruction.

It will be about designing treatment systems that combine effective PFAS removal with responsible residual management and, where technically and economically appropriate, PFAS destruction.