Smolinski Rachel, Oates Meghan, Venkatesan Arjun K, Gobler Christopher J, McDonough Carrie A
Department of Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
New York State Center for Clean Water Technology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA.
Environ Sci Process Impacts. 2025 Jul 16;27(7):1810-1822. doi: 10.1039/d5em00134j.
Onsite wastewater treatment systems (OWTSs) are designed for the removal of pathogens and nutrients from septic effluent. However, many other contaminants are widespread in wastewater including pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and other trace organic chemicals. We analyzed per/polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in residential septic effluent and investigated their fate in nitrogen-removing biofilters (NRBs), an innovative and alternative type of OWTS. We measured concentrations of 22 targeted PFASs in septic effluent pre- and post-NRB treatment in nine residential OWTSs. We measured total PFAS in septic effluent ranging from 42 to 9795 ng L and in NRB effluent ranging from 72 to 2575 ng L, corresponding to estimated effluent loads of 39 to 1423 mg PFASs per household per year. Perfluoroalkyl carboxylates (PFCAs) were generally enriched in NRB effluent influent while perfluoroalkyl sulfonates appeared to be partially removed during NRB treatment. Grab sampling results were highly variable but passive sampling (microporous polyethylene tubing containing WAX sorbent) consistently showed greater PFAS levels post-NRB treatment. High-resolution mass spectrometry screening of composited grab samples using two different workflows (suspect screening and untargeted analysis with ion mobility spectrometry) resulted in tentative identifications of 40 additional PFASs not included on the target list. The average mass defect of features identified as potential PFASs was significantly lower ( = 0.014) in post-NRB samples. This, along with increasing concentrations of PFCAs in effluent, suggested transformation of precursors to end products with greater fluorinated character in the NRB.
现场污水处理系统（OWTSs）旨在去除化粪池污水中的病原体和营养物质。然而，许多其他污染物在废水中广泛存在，包括药物、个人护理产品和其他微量有机化学品。我们分析了住宅化粪池污水中的全氟/多氟烷基物质（PFASs），并研究了它们在脱氮生物滤池（NRBs）中的归宿，NRBs是一种创新型的替代型OWTS。我们测量了九个住宅OWTS中NRB处理前后化粪池污水中22种目标PFASs的浓度。我们测得化粪池污水中总PFAS的浓度范围为42至9795 ng/L，NRB出水的浓度范围为72至2575 ng/L，对应估计每户每年的出水负荷为39至1423 mg PFASs。全氟烷基羧酸盐（PFCAs）在NRB出水 进水 中通常富集，而全氟烷基磺酸盐在NRB处理过程中似乎被部分去除。抓取采样结果变化很大，但被动采样（含有WAX吸附剂的微孔聚乙烯管）始终显示NRB处理后PFAS水平更高。使用两种不同工作流程（可疑物筛查和离子淌度谱非靶向分析）对混合抓取样品进行高分辨率质谱筛查，初步鉴定出目标列表中未包含的40种额外PFASs。在NRB处理后的样品中，被鉴定为潜在PFASs的特征的平均质量缺陷显著更低（ = 0.014）。这一点，连同出水中PFCAs浓度的增加，表明在NRB中前体向具有更高氟化特征的终产物发生了转化。
