Accumulation of PFOA and PFOS at the Air-Water Interface

Knowledge of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) accumulation at the air-water interface is critical to understanding the fate and transport of these substances in subsurface environments. The surface tension of aqueous solutions containing PFOA and PFOS at concentrations ranging from 0.1 to >1000 mg/L and with dissolved solids (i.e., cations and anions) commonly found in groundwater was measured using the Wilhelmy plate method. The surface tensions of solutions containing dissolved solids were lower than those for ultrapure water, indicating an increase in the surface excess of PFOA and PFOS in the presence of dissolved solids. An equation for the surface excess of PFOA and PFOS with total dissolved solids was developed by fitting the measured surface tension values, which ranged from 72.0 to 16.7 mN/m, to the Szyszkowski equation. On the basis of mass distribution calculations for a representative unsaturated, fine-grained soil, up to 78% of the PFOA and PFOS mass will accumulate at the air-water interface, with the remaining mass dissolved in water and adsorbed on the solids.