Potential of biochar filters for onsite wastewater treatment: Effects of active and inactive biofilms on adsorption of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in laboratory column experiments.

This study investigated the potential of biochar filters as a replacement for, or complement to, sand filters for removal of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) from wastewater in on-site wastewater treatment systems (OWTSs). Concentrations and removal of nine perfluoroalkyl carboxylates (PFCAs; C) and three perfluoroalkane sulfonates (PFSAs; C, , ) and one perfluorooctanesulfonamide (FOSA; C) were investigated over 22 weeks in four treatments with column filters: biochar (BC) without biofilm (BC-no-biofilm), biochar with active biofilm (BC-active-biofilm), biochar with inactive biofilm (BC-inactive-biofilm) and sand with active biofilm (Sand-active-biofilm). The filters were operated under hydraulic loading (50 L m day) to mimic the loading rate in on-site filtration beds. The initial concentrations of the ΣPFASs in the influent were in the range of 1500-4900 ng L. In BC-no-biofilm, the removal efficiency (20-60%) and adsorption capacity (0-88 ng ΣPFASs g BC) of short-chain PFCAs (C) and PFSA (C) was low, whereas the removal efficiency (90-99%) and the adsorption capacity (73-168 ng g) was high for C-C PFCAs, C, C PFSAs and FOSA. The relative removal was generally lower for C PFCAs and C, C, C PFSAs using BC-active-biofilm and BC-inactive-biofilm compared with BC-no-biofilm. This can be explained by the presence of biofilm and solids in BC-active-biofilm and the presence of wastewater solids in BC-inactive-biofilm, which decreased the availability and number of adsorption sites for PFASs compared with BC-no-biofilm. On the other hand, inactivation of the biofilm resulted in lower removal efficiencies for C PFCAs, C, C, C PFSAs and FOSA, probably because the biofilm degraded organic matter and thus increased the availability and number of adsorption sites compared with BC-inactive-biofilm. Sand-active-biofilm showed poor removal (0-70%) for all PFASs except FOSA (90%) and its adsorption capacity was low (0.0-7.5 ng g). In general, for all biochar treatments, shorter-chain PFASs were more resistant to removal than longer-chain PFASs. In addition, C, C and C PFSAs showed 10-30%, 10-50% and 20-30% higher average removal efficiency, respectively, than PFCAs with corresponding perfluoroalkyl chain length. In conclusion, biochar is a promising filter medium for removal of PFASs in OWTSs, especially for PFASs with a perfluorocarbon chain longer than C.