Abstract

Remediation of soil contaminated with per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is critical due to the high per-sistence and mobility of these compounds. In this study, stabilization and solidification (S/S) treatment was evaluated at pilot-scale using 6 tons of soil contaminated with PFAS-containing aqueous film-forming foam. At pilot scale, long-term PFAS removal over 6 years of precipitation (simulated using irrigation) in leachate from non-treated contaminated reference soil and S/S-treated soil with 15 % binder and 0.2 % GAC was compared. PFAS removal rate from leachate, corresponding to reduction in leaching potential after 6 years, was 97 % for four dominant PFASs (perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS) and per-fluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS)), but low (3%) for short-chain perfluoropentanoic acid (PFPeA). During the pilot scale experiment, PFAS sorption strength (i.e., soil-water partitioning coefficient (Kd)) increased 2to 40-fold for both reference and S/S-treated soil, to much higher levels than in laboratory-scale tests. However, PFAS behavior in pilot scale and laboratory-scale tests was generally well-correlated (p < 0.001), which will help in future S/S recipe optimization. In addition, seven PFASs were tentatively identified using an automated suspect screening approach. Among these, perfluorohexanesulfonamide and 3:2 fluorotelomer alcohol were tentatively identified and the latter had low removal rates from leachate (< 12 %) in S/S treatment.

Keywords

PFAS; PFOS; Soil remediation; Stabilization

Published in

Journal of Hazardous Materials
2021, volume: 402, article number: 123453
Publisher: ELSEVIER

Authors' information