Journal
WATER ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH
Volume 91, Issue 12, Pages 1669-1677Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/wer.1174
Keywords
blending; composting; heat treatment; perfluoroalkyl acids; PFAA precursors; thermal hydrolysis
Funding
- National Institute of Food and Agriculture [1006516,] Funding Source: Medline
- Colorado School of Mines Funding Source: Medline
- Purdue University Funding Source: Medline
- Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant Funding Source: Medline
- USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch Funds [Accession No. 1006516] Funding Source: Medline
- Bilsland Dissertation Fellowship Funding Source: Medline
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been used in a variety of consumer and industrial products and are known to accumulate in sewage sludge due to sorption and their recalcitrant nature. Treatment processes ensure safe and high-quality biosolids by reducing the potential for adverse environmental impacts such as pathogen levels; however, they have yet to be evaluated for their impact on the fate of PFAS. The objective of this study was to compare PFAS concentrations in four commercially available biosolid-based products that received different types of treatments: heat treatment, composting, blending, and thermal hydrolysis. Seventeen perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) were quantified using liquid chromatography with tandem quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry followed by screening for 30 PFAA precursors. Treatment processes did not reduce PFAA loads except for blending, which served only to dilute concentrations. Several PFAA precursors were identified with 6:2 and 8:2 fluorotelomer phosphate diesters in all samples pre- and post-treatment. Practitioner points Heat treatment and composting increased perfluoroalkyl acid (PFAA) concentrations. Only dilution from blending with non-PFAS material decreased PFAA concentrations. Thermal hydrolysis process had no apparent effect on PFAA concentrations. PFAS sources are a greater driver of PFAS loads in biosolid-based products than treatment processes.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available