Desorption of Poly- and Perfluoroalkyl Substances from Soil Historically Impacted with Aqueous Film-Forming Foam
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 147, Issue 2
Abstract
Bench-scale experiments were performed to measure and evaluate the desorption kinetics of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from a vadose zone soil exposed decades ago to aqueous film-forming foams (AFFFs). Desorption kinetics in the shallow zone ( below ground surface) that contained an elevated organic carbon (OC) content, and in an underlying deep zone ( below ground surface) that contained a relatively low OC content, were evaluated for a wide range of anionic and zwitterionic compounds. Results showed that, for a given perfluorinated chain length, the head group impacted desorption. For the low-OC deep soil, desorption equilibrium generally occurred rapidly (within ), indicating that mass transfer limitations were minimal. However, for the high-OC shallow soil, less-hydrophobic and short-chained compounds (including for the perfluorinated carboxylates, and for the perfluorinated sulfonates) generally did not reach equilibrium within , whereas longer-chained and more-hydrophobic PFAS appeared to reach equilibrium within . Kinetic desorption modeling revealed that these observations likely were due to the depletion of shorter-chained PFAS in the rapid equilibrium sorption domain, coupled with their persistence in the kinetically controlled sorption domain. Kinetic modeling also showed that the rate of desorption was proportional to the PFAS aqueous diffusivity, confirming that diffusion limited the rate of release from the soils. Overall, the extent of desorption generally was substantially less than that predicted by published relationships, suggesting that PFAS desorption from field-aged soils may have a less pronounced impact on underlying groundwater than anticipated, particularly for shorter-chained PFAS.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
Support for this research was provided by the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) under Project ER-1259. Views, opinions, and/or findings contained in this report are those of the authors and should not be construed as an official Department of Defense position or decision unless so designated by other official documentation.
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© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Aug 26, 2020
Accepted: Sep 28, 2020
Published online: Nov 28, 2020
Published in print: Feb 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Apr 28, 2021
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