Treatment of per- and polyfluoroalkylsubstance (PFAS)-contaminated waterusing aeration foam collection

Sammanfattning: Landfills are potential sources for PFASs and treatment techniques for landfill leachate are urgently needed. Foam fractionation is an aeration technique which utilizes the tendency of PFASs to escape the liquid phase and build foam. The foam is harvested and with it the contamination. Landfill leachate from Hovgården, Uppsala Sweden contained PFASs of higher concentration than desired and investigations into whether foam fractionation could reduce PFASs amounts were initiated. Landfill leachate containing sum PFASs of 5500 ng/L on average were aerated in two different aeration foam collection pilot set-ups for the research. The pilot set-ups were divided into two models: a batch pilot and a continuous pilot. The batch pilot was run for 60 minutes testing parameters such as column volume, air flow rate, dilution and using additives as NaCl, FeCl3 and dish soap. The continuous pilot used contact times of 5, 10 and 20 minutes with constant air flow rate and column volume and no additives. All batch experiments showed reduced concentrations of PFASs, from 62 up to 91%, with an average sum PFASs removal efficiency of 77%. Air flow rates of 4 and 6 L/min were more effective than 2 L/min to reduce the amount of PFASs. Smaller volumes got higher removal efficiency. The dilution experiments showed mixed and somewhat contradictory results, where the nondiluted experiment had removal efficiency of sum PFASs of average 77% while the 50% diluted had an average sum PFASs removal efficiency of 84%. The experiment with the greatest dilution (75%) had the lowest average sum PFASs removal efficiency as suspected, at 68%. Regarding additives, the experiments with added 0.155 and 0.313% NaCl in the leachate were most effective at removing PFASs. The dish soap and FeCl3 additives also contributed to higher PFASs reduction. The experiment with the addition of dish soap had an average sum PFASs removal efficiency of 88% compared to 77% without additives, and the highest concentration of FeCl3 (0,09% of the leachate) had an average sum PFASs removal efficiency of 85%. All continuous experiments showed reduced reduced PFASs concentrations with sum PFASs removal efficiencies ranging from 72 up to 94%, with an average of 86%. The majority of the PFASs were reduced within the first time steps for all experiments, but for the last amount to be removed the contact time needed to be longer. The column contact time of 20 min had the highest average sum PFASs removal efficiency. The conclusion is that PFASs are reduced during the treatment in the pilots and that the reduction is dependent on the chain length and functional groups of the substances, and increased with additives and increased air flow rate. The volume treated and the concentration of raw water also influenced the removal efficiency.