PFAS Solid Waste Research in 2021: What Have We Learned?

Jul 12, 2023

Stephanie C. Bolyard | Jan 26, 2022

Given the increased focus on PFAS from a regulatory perspective, various federal, state, non-profits, and private organizations have focused on continuing to fund research to fill necessary knowledge gaps and advance the current science. In 2021, there were continued peer-reviewed research studies that were published which a focus on solid waste related topics. These studies focused on the disposal of municipal solid waste (MSW), treatment of landfill leachate, management of treatment residuals (e.g., spent treatment media and regeneration), fate of PFAS during waste collection, food waste characterization, and recycling. These studies further supported previous research observations and filled various knowledge gaps as outlined below:

To further advance PFAS research, various federal, state, and non-profit entities have funded studies specifically focused on solid waste. These entities have funded over $7 millions dollars in research since 2019. In 2019, the U.S. EPA funded $6 million dollars in research to address “Practical Methods to Analyze and Treat Emerging Contaminants (PFAS) in Solid Waste, Landfills, Wastewater/Leachates, Soils, and Groundwater to Protect Human Health and the Environment”. This research continued in 2021 at 8 institutions across the U.S. These projects focus on understanding treatment methods to remove and destruction PFAS in leachate and other wastewaters, characterization and quantification of PFAS in landfill leachate and gas, groundwater, and biosolids, and the presence of PFAS in waste disposed at landfills and the effects of different management approaches on the presence of these compounds in leachate. These projects are estimated to end this year.

The Environmental Research & Education Foundation continues to fund PFAS research by adding two projects in 2021, totaling just under $500,000 in funding, focused on the disposal of PFAS-containing special wastes (North Carolina State University) and solid waste combustion treat at landfills (University of Vermont, Sanborn Head & Associates, Weston Solutions, and North Carolina State University). These projects will add to the existing research on destructive and concentrating treatment approaches for PFAS in leachate and other liquid waste streams as well as understanding the ability for conventional liners to control the migration of PFAS beyond the landfill. Since 2020, EREF is funding just over $1 million dollars in PFAS research specifically addressing solid waste needs.

The Hinkley Center for Solid and Hazardous Waste Management is a State of Florida funding agencies that focuses on solid and hazardous waste management research. They have also directed research funding towards PFAS in 2021 through the funding of a project titled “Remediation of Perfluoroalkyl Substances in Landfill Leachate via Solar Photocatalysis (Florida Polytechnic University)”. Since 2019, they have funded a total of 6 projects that have primarily focused on leachate treatment and the fate of PFAS in landfills.

These research projects are not only imperative to fill necessary knowledge gaps to fully understand the needs to management PFAS but will also address emerging regulatory actions by the U.S. EPA. In October, the U.S. EPA released their PFAS Strategic Roadmap: EPA's Commitments to Action 2021-2024 that outlines how the agency, as a whole, would approach addressing PFAS across multiple sectors and industries. In the same month, EPA announced that it would be taking the necessary steps to evaluate four PFAS compounds (PFOA, PFOS, PFBS, and GenX) under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and strengthening the ability to clean up PFAS contamination across the country through the RCRA corrective action process. The Preliminary Effluent Guidelines Program Plan 15 guidelines specifically identify the need to understand how landfill leachate contributes to WWTP influent and effluent quality and to broaden the focus beyond PFOA and PFOS to 40 PFAS compounds.

This year will be an exciting time to see the wrap up of innovative and transformative research that will advance key areas for the solid waste industry to be equipped to continue to proactively manage PFAS-containing wastes.

References

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Kah, M., Oliver, D., Kookana, R. 2021. Sequestration and potential release of PFAS from spent engineered sorbents. Science of The Total Environment, 765, 142770.

Liu, S., Zhao, S., Liang, Z., Wang, F., Sun, F., Chen, D. 2021. Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in leachate, fly ash, and bottom ash from waste incineration plants: Implications for the environmental release of PFAS. Science of The Total Environment, 795, 148468.

Peng, L., Xu, W., Zeng, Q., Sun, F., Guo, Y., Zhong, S., Wang, F., Chen, D. 2022. Exposure to perfluoroalkyl substances in waste recycling workers: Distributions in paired human serum and urine. Environment International, 158, 106963.

Rowe, R.K., Barakat, F.B. 2021. Modelling the transport of PFOS from single lined municipal solid waste landfill. Computers and Geotechnics, 137, 104280.

Singh, R.K., Brown, E., Mededovic Thagard, S., Holsen, T.M. 2021. Treatment of PFAS-containing landfill leachate using an enhanced contact plasma reactor. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 408, 124452.

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Tian, S., Xu, T., Fang, L., Zhu, Y., Li, F., Leary, R.N., Zhang, M., Zhao, D., Soong, T.-Y., Shi, H. 2021. A ‘Concentrate-&-Destroy’ technology for enhanced removal and destruction of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in municipal landfill leachate. Science of The Total Environment, 791, 148124.

Xu, C., Liu, Z., Song, X., Ding, X., Ding, D. 2021. Legacy and emerging per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in multi-media around a landfill in China: Implications for the usage of PFASs alternatives. Science of The Total Environment, 751, 141767.

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