Mustafa Khalid, de Falco Giacomo, Fernando Eustace, Boufadel Michel C, Zhang Zhiming, Sarkar Dibyendu
Department of Civil, Environmental and Ocean Engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey, USA.
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Trenton, New Jersey, USA.
Water Environ Res. 2025 Sep;97(9):e70172. doi: 10.1002/wer.70172.
Despite growing concern over polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), comprehensive evaluations of their behavior in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) influenced by landfill leachate remain limited. This study introduces a novel, integrated framework to investigate the fate, transformation, and persistence of PFAS across various treatment stages within a full-scale WWTP uniquely impacted by a mixture of domestic wastewater and industrial landfill leachate. By combining advanced targeted analysis using USEPA Draft Method 1633 with extractable organic fluorine (EOF) quantification and total oxidizable precursor (TOP) assays, this approach offers a comprehensive, multidimensional characterization of PFAS behavior. The USEPA Draft Method 1633 revealed influent and effluent PFAS concentrations ranging from 432 to 727 and 356 to 558 ng/L, respectively, with overall removal efficiencies of 6%-25% across three sampling events. Post-TOP assay results showed that PFAS concentrations increased approximately twofold in influent (637-1205 ng/L) and 1.5-fold in effluent (600-927 ng/L), indicating the presence of oxidizable PFAS precursors. Additionally, targeted PFAS accounted for only 12%-20% of total EOF in influent and 15%-25% in effluent samples, demonstrating the substantial presence of unidentified fluorinated compounds beyond routine analysis. Moreover, significant PFAS partitioning to sludge was quantified, with total concentrations reaching ~17,000 ng/kg in untreated sludge and ~19,000 ng/kg in final biosolids, underscoring the potential for terrestrial redistribution via land application. Compared with earlier works that narrowly focused on known PFAS compounds or specific treatment technologies, this study delivers a comprehensive, multi-method perspective on PFAS behavior, precursor transformation, and environmental release potential. These insights advance the understanding of PFAS fate in complex wastewater matrices and emphasize the need for expanded monitoring strategies to inform future regulatory and remediation efforts.
尽管人们对多氟烷基和全氟烷基物质（PFAS）的关注日益增加，但对其在受垃圾渗滤液影响的污水处理厂（WWTPs）中的行为进行的全面评估仍然有限。本研究引入了一个新颖的综合框架，以研究PFAS在一个受生活污水和工业垃圾渗滤液混合物独特影响的全规模污水处理厂的各个处理阶段中的归宿、转化和持久性。通过将使用美国环保署（USEPA）方法草案1633进行的先进靶向分析与可提取有机氟（EOF）定量和总可氧化前体（TOP）分析相结合，该方法提供了对PFAS行为的全面、多维度表征。USEPA方法草案1633显示，进水和出水的PFAS浓度分别为432至727 ng/L和356至558 ng/L，在三次采样事件中的总去除效率为6%-25%。TOP分析后的结果表明，进水（637-1205 ng/L）中PFAS浓度增加了约两倍，出水（600-927 ng/L）中增加了1.5倍，这表明存在可氧化的PFAS前体。此外，目标PFAS仅占进水总EOF的12%-20%，占出水样品的15%-25%，这表明除了常规分析之外，还存在大量未鉴定的含氟化合物。此外，对PFAS向污泥的显著分配进行了量化，未处理污泥中的总浓度达到约17,000 ng/kg，最终生物固体中的总浓度达到约19,000 ng/kg，这突出了通过土地施用进行陆地再分配的可能性。与早期仅专注于已知PFAS化合物或特定处理技术的研究相比，本研究提供了关于PFAS行为、前体转化和环境释放潜力的全面、多方法视角。这些见解推进了对PFAS在复杂废水基质中归宿的理解，并强调需要扩大监测策略，为未来的监管和修复工作提供信息。
