Aerosolisation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) during aeration of contaminated aqueous solutions

Jishnu Pandamkulangara Kizhakkethil; Zongbo Shi; Anna Bogush; Ivan Kourtchev

doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2024.120716

Aerosolisation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) during aeration of contaminated aqueous solutions

Jishnu Pandamkulangara Kizhakkethil
, Zongbo Shi
, Anna Bogush
, Ivan Kourtchev

Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience

University of Birmingham

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

16 Citations (Scopus)

149 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Environmental pollution by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), commonly known as “forever chemicals”, is a major concern. Numerous studies have identified PFAS in various environmental matrices including groundwater, surface water, sea, soil, and atmosphere. Nevertheless, the atmospheric presence of PFAS remains an underexplored area. The exact sources of PFAS in the atmosphere and the mechanisms governing their transfer remain largely elusive. In this study, we investigated, for the first time, the influence of aeration on the aqueous-to-air transfer, of a range of short-, medium-, and long-chain PFAS from aqueous solutions contaminated with PFAS at concentrations and pHs relevant to those at industrial wastewater treatment. PFAS enriched aerosols were generated from the aqueous solutions under three tested pH conditions which were found to affect the partitioning of the individual PFAS. The extent of PFAS aerosolisation also showed a clear dependence on the analyte’s carbon chain length and functional groups. Specifically, the propensity for partitioning into aerosols increased with increasing PFAS carbon chain length. Notably, perfluorosulfonic acids (PFSA) demonstrated a greater potential for aerosolisation compared to perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCA). Legacy PFAS including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorosulfonic acid (PFOS) and a new generation replacement PFAS 8:2 Fluorotelomer sulfonate (8:2 FTS) showed a significant transfer to aerosols from the aqueous solutions. Our results suggest that processes involving aeration of contaminated water (including those at industry) with PFAS could potentially act as a source of atmospheric PFAS.

Original language	English
Article number	120716
Number of pages	8
Journal	Atmospheric Environment
Volume	334
Early online date	26 Jul 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2024.120716
Publication status	Published - 1 Oct 2024

Bibliographical note

© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/),
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited..

Funder

The authors wish to acknowledge Coventry University QR funding for providing Trailblazers PhD studentship to Jishnu Pandamkulangara Kizhakkethil and the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR), Coventry University for providing financial support. The authors also gratefully acknowledge Omotola Folorunsho, Sam Towers (former laboratory technician, CAWR) and Richard Collins (laboratory technician, CAWR) for technical support.

Funding

The authors wish to acknowledge Coventry University QR funding for providing Trailblazers PhD studentship (acquired by Dr Ivan Kourtchev) to Jishnu Pandamkulangara Kizhakkethil and the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR), Coventry University for providing financial support. The authors also gratefully acknowledge Omotola Folorunsho, Sam Towers (former laboratory technician, CAWR) and Richard Collins (laboratory technician, CAWR) for technical support.

Funders
Coventry University

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production

Keywords

Aerosols
FTS
Forever chemicals
PFOA
PFOS

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Environmental Science
Atmospheric Science

Access to Document

10.1016/j.atmosenv.2024.120716Licence: CC BY

Kourtchev2024VoRFinal published version, 1.54 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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abstract = "Environmental pollution by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), commonly known as “forever chemicals”, is a major concern. Numerous studies have identified PFAS in various environmental matrices including groundwater, surface water, sea, soil, and atmosphere. Nevertheless, the atmospheric presence of PFAS remains an underexplored area. The exact sources of PFAS in the atmosphere and the mechanisms governing their transfer remain largely elusive. In this study, we investigated, for the first time, the influence of aeration on the aqueous-to-air transfer, of a range of short-, medium-, and long-chain PFAS from aqueous solutions contaminated with PFAS at concentrations and pHs relevant to those at industrial wastewater treatment. PFAS enriched aerosols were generated from the aqueous solutions under three tested pH conditions which were found to affect the partitioning of the individual PFAS. The extent of PFAS aerosolisation also showed a clear dependence on the analyte{\textquoteright}s carbon chain length and functional groups. Specifically, the propensity for partitioning into aerosols increased with increasing PFAS carbon chain length. Notably, perfluorosulfonic acids (PFSA) demonstrated a greater potential for aerosolisation compared to perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCA). Legacy PFAS including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorosulfonic acid (PFOS) and a new generation replacement PFAS 8:2 Fluorotelomer sulfonate (8:2 FTS) showed a significant transfer to aerosols from the aqueous solutions. Our results suggest that processes involving aeration of contaminated water (including those at industry) with PFAS could potentially act as a source of atmospheric PFAS.",

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AU - Bogush, Anna

AU - Kourtchev, Ivan

N1 - © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited..

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N2 - Environmental pollution by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), commonly known as “forever chemicals”, is a major concern. Numerous studies have identified PFAS in various environmental matrices including groundwater, surface water, sea, soil, and atmosphere. Nevertheless, the atmospheric presence of PFAS remains an underexplored area. The exact sources of PFAS in the atmosphere and the mechanisms governing their transfer remain largely elusive. In this study, we investigated, for the first time, the influence of aeration on the aqueous-to-air transfer, of a range of short-, medium-, and long-chain PFAS from aqueous solutions contaminated with PFAS at concentrations and pHs relevant to those at industrial wastewater treatment. PFAS enriched aerosols were generated from the aqueous solutions under three tested pH conditions which were found to affect the partitioning of the individual PFAS. The extent of PFAS aerosolisation also showed a clear dependence on the analyte’s carbon chain length and functional groups. Specifically, the propensity for partitioning into aerosols increased with increasing PFAS carbon chain length. Notably, perfluorosulfonic acids (PFSA) demonstrated a greater potential for aerosolisation compared to perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCA). Legacy PFAS including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorosulfonic acid (PFOS) and a new generation replacement PFAS 8:2 Fluorotelomer sulfonate (8:2 FTS) showed a significant transfer to aerosols from the aqueous solutions. Our results suggest that processes involving aeration of contaminated water (including those at industry) with PFAS could potentially act as a source of atmospheric PFAS.

AB - Environmental pollution by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), commonly known as “forever chemicals”, is a major concern. Numerous studies have identified PFAS in various environmental matrices including groundwater, surface water, sea, soil, and atmosphere. Nevertheless, the atmospheric presence of PFAS remains an underexplored area. The exact sources of PFAS in the atmosphere and the mechanisms governing their transfer remain largely elusive. In this study, we investigated, for the first time, the influence of aeration on the aqueous-to-air transfer, of a range of short-, medium-, and long-chain PFAS from aqueous solutions contaminated with PFAS at concentrations and pHs relevant to those at industrial wastewater treatment. PFAS enriched aerosols were generated from the aqueous solutions under three tested pH conditions which were found to affect the partitioning of the individual PFAS. The extent of PFAS aerosolisation also showed a clear dependence on the analyte’s carbon chain length and functional groups. Specifically, the propensity for partitioning into aerosols increased with increasing PFAS carbon chain length. Notably, perfluorosulfonic acids (PFSA) demonstrated a greater potential for aerosolisation compared to perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCA). Legacy PFAS including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorosulfonic acid (PFOS) and a new generation replacement PFAS 8:2 Fluorotelomer sulfonate (8:2 FTS) showed a significant transfer to aerosols from the aqueous solutions. Our results suggest that processes involving aeration of contaminated water (including those at industry) with PFAS could potentially act as a source of atmospheric PFAS.

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KW - FTS

KW - Forever chemicals

KW - PFOA

KW - PFOS

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M3 - Article

SN - 0004-6981

VL - 334

JO - Atmospheric Environment

JF - Atmospheric Environment

M1 - 120716

ER -

Aerosolisation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) during aeration of contaminated aqueous solutions

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funder

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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Cite this