Citation:

Bolan, N., B. Sarkar, Y. Yan, Q. Li, H. Wijesekara, K. Kannan, D. Tsang, M. Schauerte, J. Bosch, H. Noll, Y. Ok, K. Scheckel, J. Kumpiene, K. Gobindlal, M. Kah, J. Sperry, M. Kirkham, H. Wang, Y. Tsang, D. Hou, AND J. Rinklebe. Remediation of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contaminated soils – To mobilize or to immobilize or to degrade? JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, 401:123892, (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.123892

Impact/Purpose:

A few recent review articles have concentrated on strategies for removing PFAS compounds from water (Du et al., 2014; Espana et al., 2015; Sarkar et al., 2018; Sarkar et al., 2012b; Zhang et al., 2019), but review articles critically analysing soil PFAS remediation are scarce in the literature. Soil PFAS remediation approaches lack both from scientific/technological soundness and socio-economic acceptance of the proposed methods, on which no critical review is available. So, the current review paper aims to present information on the remediation of PFAS contaminated soils by critically reflecting on the pros and cons of contaminant mobilization, immobilization, and destruction strategies using a wide range of soil amendments. The mobilizing amendments help to desorb PFAS compounds that are bound to soil minerals or organic matter, and hence increase their bioavailability and mobility (Milinovic et al., 2015, 2016; Pan et al., 2009; Tang et al., 2017). In contrast, the immobilizing amendments adsorb or fix the PFAS compounds in soils reducing their bioavailability and mobility (Aly et al., 2019; Das et al., 2013; Hale et al., 2017). This review discusses all the above strategies by first presenting an overview of various soil PFAS sources, PFAS interactions with soil components and bioavailability, soil PFAS remediation through manipulating the bioavailability using conventional and advanced soil amendments along with some exemplary case studies, and highlighting their respective techno-economic advantages and disadvantages. This review will be helpful in directing research for the development of new soil PFAS remediation agents and methods, as well as assisting in the selection of already existing methods that are most suitable under diverse soil PFAS contamination scenarios.

Description:

Poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are synthetic chemicals, which are introduced to the environment through anthropogenic activities. Aqueous film forming foam used in firefighting, wastewater effluent, landfill leachate, and biosolids are major sources of PFAS input to soil and groundwater. Remediation of PFAS contaminated solid and aqueous media is challenging, which is attributed to the chemical and thermal stability of PFAS and the complexity of PFAS mixtures. In this review, remediation of PFAS contaminated soils through manipulation of their bioavailability and destruction is presented. While the mobilizing amendments (e.g., surfactants) enhance the mobility and bioavailability of PFAS, the immobilizing amendments (e.g., activated carbon) decrease their bioavailability and mobility.

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