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City-scale impacts of PFAS from normal and elevated temperature landfill leachates on wastewater treatment plant influent
Summary
Landfills that run hotter than normal (often due to underground chemical reactions) leak significantly more "forever chemicals" (PFAS) into their wastewater than typical landfills, adding to the mix of these persistent, hard-to-remove chemicals flowing into city sewage treatment plants. Since wastewater treatment plants aren't designed to filter out PFAS, this means more of these chemicals, linked to cancer, immune problems, and other health issues, could end up back in our water supplies and environment, especially in cities with these "hot" landfills nearby.
The influence of elevated temperatures on PFAS leaching in municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills has not been well characterized in the published scientific literature. This study systematically examined the compositions and concentrations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and precursors content in both normal temperature landfill and elevated temperature landfill (ETLF) leachates and compared to a municipal wastewater and to a WWTP influent with and without introduced leachates. The characterization of the samples involved the analysis of 71 PFAS target compounds before and after applying the total oxidizable precursor (TOP) assay, along with measuring fluorotelomer alcohols (FTOHs) and adsorbable organofluorine (AOF) levels. Summed PFAS concentrations in leachates were driven largely by fluorotelomer carboxylic acids (FTCAs), short-chain and ultrashort-chain perfluorinated carboxylic acids and sulfonic acids. Summed PFAS concentrations in ETLF leachate were significantly higher than in normal leachate for precursors and terminal PFAS products. TOP assay data demonstrated that ETLF leachate contained significantly higher concentrations of oxidizable PFAS precursors than normal leachate. PFAS profiles in leachates were distinct from municipal wastewater and from WWTP influent, suggesting diverse PFAS inputs to the WWTP. The presence of unknown precursors revealed by the TOP assay and AOF analyses highlights the complexity of PFAS sources impacting sewer networks, warranting further study to better characterize PFAS inputs to the WWTP on a city-wide scale.