Abstract

Drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs) are constantly adapting to a host of emerging threats including the removal of micro-pollutants like perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), while concurrently considering how background levels of dissolved organic matter (DOM) influences their removal efficiency. Two adsorbents, namely anion exchange (AE) and granulated active carbon (GAC) have shown particular promise for PFAS removal, yet the influence of background levels of DOM remains poorly explored. Here we considered how the removal efficiency of 13 PFASs are influenced by two contrasting types of DOM at four concentrations, using both AE (Purolite A-600 (R)) and GAC (Filtrasorb 400 (R)). We placed emphasis on the pre-equilibrium conditions to gain better mechanistic insight into the dynamics between DOM, PFASs and adsorbents. We found AE to be very effective at removing both PFASs and DOM, while largely remaining resistant to even high levels of background DOM (8 mg carbon L-1) and surprisingly found that smaller PFASs were removed slightly more efficiently than longer chained counterparts, In contrast, PFAS removal efficiency with GAC was highly variable with PFAS chain length, often improving in the presence of DOM, but with variable response based on the type of DOM and PFAS chain length. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Drinking water; Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs); Anion exchange; Granulated active carbon; Dissolved organic matter; Drinking water treatment

Published in

Water Research
2017, Volume: 121, pages: 320-328
Publisher: PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

SLU Authors

• Kothawala, Dolly

  • Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Uppsala University

• Köhler, Stephan

  • Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Wiberg, Karin

  • Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Ahrens, Lutz

  • Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages


UKÄ Subject classification

Analytical Chemistry
Other Chemistry Topics


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2017.05.047

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/87012