Schaefer Charles E, Hooper Jennifer L, Strom Laurel E, Abusallout Ibrahim, Dickenson Eric R V, Thompson Kyle A, Mohan Gayathri Ram, Drennan Dina, Wu Ke, Guelfo Jennifer L
CDM Smith, 110 Fieldcrest Avenue #8, 6th Floor, Edison, NJ 08837, USA.
CDM Smith, 14432 SE Eastgate Way Suite 100, Bellevue, WA 98007, USA.
Water Res. 2023 Apr 15;233:119724. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2023.119724. Epub 2023 Feb 10.
Both quantifiable and semi-quantifiable poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) were evaluated in the influent, effluent, and biosolids of 38 wastewater treatment plants. PFAS were detected in all streams at all facilities. For the means of the sums of detected, quantifiable PFAS concentrations were 98 ± 28 ng/L, 80 ± 24 ng/L, and 160,000 ± 46,000 ng/kg (dry weight basis) in the influent, effluent, and biosolids (respectively). In the aqueous influent and effluent streams this quantifiable PFAS mass was typically associated with perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs). In contrast, quantifiable PFAS in the biosolids were primarily polyfluoroalkyl substances that potentially serve as precursors to the more recalcitrant PFAAs. Results of the total oxidizable precursor (TOP) assay on select influent and effluent samples showed that semi-quantified (or, unidentified) precursors accounted for a substantial portion (21 to 88%) of the fluorine mass compared to that associated with quantified PFAS, and that this fluorine precursor mass was not appreciably transformed to perfluoroalkyl acids within the WWTPs, as influent and effluent precursor concentrations via the TOP assay were statistically identical. Evaluation of semi-quantified PFAS, consistent with results of the TOP assay, showed the presence of several classes of precursors in the influent, effluent, and biosolids; perfluorophosphonic acids (PFPAs) and fluorotelomer phosphate diesters (di-PAPs) occurred in 100 and 92% of biosolid samples, respectively. Analysis of mass flows showed that, for both quantified (on a fluorine mass basis) and semi-quantified PFAS, the majority of PFAS exited WWTPs through the aqueous effluent compared to the biosolids stream. Overall, these results highlight the importance of semi-quantified PFAS precursors in WWTPs, and the need to further understand the impacts of their ultimate fate in the environment.
在38座污水处理厂的进水、出水和生物固体中，对可量化和半可量化的多氟和全氟烷基物质（PFAS）进行了评估。在所有设施的所有水流中均检测到了PFAS。对于检测到的可量化PFAS浓度总和的平均值，进水、出水和生物固体中的浓度分别为98±28 ng/L、80±24 ng/L和160,000±46,000 ng/kg（干重）。在进水和出水水流中，这种可量化的PFAS物质通常与全氟烷基酸（PFAA）有关。相比之下，生物固体中的可量化PFAS主要是多氟烷基物质，它们可能是更难降解的PFAA的前体。对选定进水和出水样品进行的总可氧化前体（TOP）分析结果表明，与量化PFAS相关的氟质量相比，半量化（或未识别）前体占氟质量的很大一部分（21%至88%），并且这种氟前体物质在污水处理厂内并未明显转化为全氟烷基酸，因为通过TOP分析得出的进水和出水前体浓度在统计学上是相同的。与TOP分析结果一致，对半量化PFAS的评估表明，进水、出水和生物固体中存在几类前体；全氟膦酸（PFPA）和氟调聚物磷酸二酯（di-PAP）分别出现在92%和100%的生物固体样品中。质量流分析表明，对于量化（基于氟质量）和半量化的PFAS，与生物固体流相比，大多数PFAS通过出水流出污水处理厂。总体而言，这些结果突出了污水处理厂中半量化PFAS前体的重要性，以及进一步了解其最终归宿对环境影响的必要性。
