TY - JOUR
T1 - Loss and in situ production of perfluoroalkyl chemicals in outdoor biosolids-soil mesocosms
AU - Venkatesan, Arjun K.
AU - Halden, Rolf
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Yakov Pachepsky from the United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service (USDA–ARS) Beltsville Agricultural Research Center for providing the soil samples. We also thank Barbara Halden for her help with sampling and maintenance of the soil mesocosms. We would like to acknowledge the laboratory staffs of AXYS Analytical Services Ltd. for performing chemical analysis. This study was supported in part by the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future and by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Grants R01ES015445 , R01ES020889 , and their supplements. The content of this work is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIEHS or the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
PY - 2014/7
Y1 - 2014/7
N2 - An outdoor mesocosm study was conducted in Baltimore, Maryland, to explore the fate of thirteen perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) over the course of three years in biosolids/soil mixtures (1:2) exposed to ambient outdoor conditions. Analysis by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry showed perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) to be the most abundant analyte found early in the soil weathering experiment at 24.1ng/g dry weight (dw), followed by perfluoroundecanoate (PFUnDA) and perfluorodecanoate (PFDA) at 18.4 and 17.4ng/g dw, respectively. Short-chain perfluorinated carboxylates (PFCAs; C4-C8) showed observable loss from biosolids/soil mixtures, with experimentally determined first-order half-lives in soil ranging from 385 to 866 days. Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorononaoate (PFNA) and PFUnDA levels in biosolids/soil mixtures remained stable, while other long-chain PFCAs [PFDA, perfluorododecanoate (PFDoDA)] and perfluorooctane sulfonamide (PFOSA) levels increased over time, presumably due to the breakdown of unidentified precursors in a process analogous to that reported previously for wastewater treatment plants. This study informs risk assessment initiatives by furnishing data on the environmental persistence of PFASs while also constituting the first report on in situ production of long-chained PFASs in terrestrial environments.
AB - An outdoor mesocosm study was conducted in Baltimore, Maryland, to explore the fate of thirteen perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) over the course of three years in biosolids/soil mixtures (1:2) exposed to ambient outdoor conditions. Analysis by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry showed perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) to be the most abundant analyte found early in the soil weathering experiment at 24.1ng/g dry weight (dw), followed by perfluoroundecanoate (PFUnDA) and perfluorodecanoate (PFDA) at 18.4 and 17.4ng/g dw, respectively. Short-chain perfluorinated carboxylates (PFCAs; C4-C8) showed observable loss from biosolids/soil mixtures, with experimentally determined first-order half-lives in soil ranging from 385 to 866 days. Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorononaoate (PFNA) and PFUnDA levels in biosolids/soil mixtures remained stable, while other long-chain PFCAs [PFDA, perfluorododecanoate (PFDoDA)] and perfluorooctane sulfonamide (PFOSA) levels increased over time, presumably due to the breakdown of unidentified precursors in a process analogous to that reported previously for wastewater treatment plants. This study informs risk assessment initiatives by furnishing data on the environmental persistence of PFASs while also constituting the first report on in situ production of long-chained PFASs in terrestrial environments.
KW - Biosolids
KW - Emerging contaminants
KW - Environmental fate
KW - Half-life
KW - Perfluoroalkyl chemicals
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U2 - 10.1016/j.envres.2014.04.024
DO - 10.1016/j.envres.2014.04.024
M3 - Article
C2 - 24834828
AN - SCOPUS:84900405348
SN - 0013-9351
VL - 132
SP - 321
EP - 327
JO - Environmental Research
JF - Environmental Research
ER -