Incineration of PFBA with temperature: Reaction mechanisms, kinetics, and residence time from molecular level simulations

breakdown calculations show residence times exceeding seconds to hundreds of seconds well above typical incinerator gas-phase residence times. These findings provide quantitative evidence that PFAS incineration proceeds through complex multistep of degradation pathways and that kinetically persistent products of incomplete combustion result primarily from slow defluorination steps. The mechanistic and kinetic trends identified here provide molecular-level guidance for optimizing incineration conditions to improve PFAS mineralization.