Determination of Perfluoroalkyl Substances in Municipal Landfill Leachates from Beijing, China

Abstract

Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have been widely used in industrial and commercial applications for several decades as surfactants, emulsifiers, fire retardants and polymer additives. They are highly stable, bio-accumulative and resistant to degradation in the environment 1,2. Perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) are the most commonly used and most often found PFASs in the environment 3. The maximum solubility of PFOA, PFOS is 3400 mg/L and 570 mg/L in water 4. According to the literature, these compounds have been detected in wastewater, surface water, groundwater and even tap water throughout the world 5,6. Because of their global distribution, environmental persistence, bioaccumulation and toxicity, PFOA and PFOS have increasingly attracted global attention 7,8. In 2009, PFOS was added to the persistent organic pollutants (POPs) list of the Stockholm convention. Few studies document the association of PFASs with municipal solid wastes, in part, because of difficulties in handling such heterogeneous material. Municipal solid wastes in landfills are subject to chemical reactions and degradation processes that may result in PFOA and PFOS containing in leachates 9. To date, data for up to only 12 PFASs in leachate are available 10,11. Therefore, more investigation and systemic data are still required for better understanding of PFASs pollution in leachates.

Detection of Poly- and Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) in U.S. Drinking Water Linked to Industrial Sites, Military Fire Training Areas, and Wastewater Treatment Plants

“…Geospatial data are lacking for many potentially important PFAS point sources such as a wide range of industries, landfills, biosolids application, and other AFFF-impacted sites where relatively smaller volumes of AFFF were released. ,,− Data on PFAS releases from smaller industrial facilities (e.g., plastics, textiles, paper, and lubricants) are usually withheld as confidential business information, and little information about airborne emissions is available for characterizing the importance of atmospheric releases and potential long-range transport. For example, biosolids application resulted in one of the largest PFAS drinking water contamination events in Europe but could not be included in this analysis because U.S. use data are not available on a national scale.…”

Perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFASs) in northern Spain municipal solid waste landfill leachates

“…Although there are few available data on PFASs occurrence in landfill leachates all over the world, a substantial variability is found in the reported concentrations among landfills, and to a less extent in the patterns distribution. The data are collected and summarized in Table 2 to provide the basis for comparison and correspond to studies carried out in landfill sites from 4 global regions: North America (Huset et al, 2011;Benskin et al, 2012;Li et al, 2012;Gewurtz et al, 2013;Allred et al;, Europe (Woldegiorgis et al, 2006;Kallenborn et al, 2008;Eggen et al, 2010;Perkola et al, 2013), China (Zhang et al, 2014 andYan et al, 2015) and…”

“…Furthermore, recent studies have demonstrated that landfills are, similarly to wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), emission sources of semivolatile PFASs to the ambient air (Ahrens et al, 2011;Weinberg et al, 2011). Studies on PFASs in municipal landfill leachates have been conducted mainly in three regions all over the world: North America (Huset et al, 2011;Benskin et al, 2012;Li et al, 2012;Gewurtz et al, 2013;Allred et al;Clarke et al, 2015), Europe (Woldegiorgis et al, 2006;Kallenborn et al, 2008;Eggen et al, 2010;Busch et al, 2010;Perkola et al, 2013) and China (Zhang et al, 2014;Yan et al, 2015). All the studies performed in Europe correspond to northern and central European countries.…”

Perfluoroalkyl acids in municipal landfill leachates from China: Occurrence, fate during leachate treatment and potential impact on groundwater

“…Presently, several surveys have been conducted on PFAAs in landfill leachate from North America and Europe (3M, 2001;Bossi et al, 2008;Busch et al, 2010;Huset et al, 2011;Kallenborn et al, 2004;Oliaei et al, 2006;Woldegiorgis et al, 2006). In China, only one PFAA study in leachate was conducted in Beijing (Zhang et al, 2014b). Yet, not enough data have been available across China, where landfills are distributed widely.…”