Patent ID: 7754914

Claim:
Method of recovering a fluorinated acid surfactant or salt thereof from adsorbent particles to which said fluorinated acid surfactant has been adsorbed, said method comprising mixing adsorbent particles having adsorbed fluorinated acid surfactant or salt thereof with an alcohol and optionally an acid, causing esterification of said fluorinated acid surfactant or salt thereof with said alcohol so as to form an ester derivative of said fluorinated acid surfactant, distilling the mixture to form a distillate comprising the ester derivative, separating the ester derivative from the distillate and optionally feeding the remainder of the distillate back into said mixture, wherein said method does not include elution with water of the adsorbed fluorinated acid surfactant from the adsorbent particles before distilling the mixture such that the adsorbed particles are included in the mixture being distilled.