Grant Award Year: 2020-2021
Principal Investigator:
Onur Apul, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Research Description:
Poly- and per-fluoroalkyl (PFAS) substances are considered to be one of the most consequential environmental contaminant classes in recent history. They have been identified in 17 water sources in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts serving more than 250,000 residents. Considering the high population density and prominent industrial activity, PFAS is also anticipated to have an impact on other Northeastern U.S. regions. The PFAS contamination mostly originates from direct field application in fire training or response sites and from breaches in landfill containment. Given the thermodynamic limitation for breaking the exceptionally stable C-F bonds and limited research on costly catalysts and/or processes to achieve PFAS degradation, conservative remediation technologies are required to prompt mitigation of impacted water sources. Carbon-based adsorbents are successful in remediating source waters impacted by PFAS; however, rapid depletion of adsorption capacity increases the cost of operation. Furthermore, spent adsorbents create a PFAS laden side waste stream. In this project, we will test granular activated carbon adsorbents for PFAS remediation and their subsequent thermal regeneration under pertinent conditions considering the environmental levels and the practical operation of the remediation technologies.
Report
- Project Type: Annual Base Grant
- ProjectID: 2020MA004B
- Project Impact:
Poly- and per-fluoroalkyl (PFAS) substances are one of the most consequential environmental contaminant classes in recent history. They have been identified in drinking water sources in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts serving more than 250,000 residents. Considering the high population density and prominent industrial activity, PFAS is also anticipated to have an impact on other northeastern regions.
The PFAS contamination mostly originates from direct field application in fire training and from breaches in landfill containment. Given the thermodynamic limitation for breaking the exceptionally stable C-F bonds and limited research on costly catalysts and/or processes to achieve PFAS degradation, conservative remediation technologies are required to prompt mitigation of impacted water sources. Carbon-based adsorbents such as granular activated carbons are successful in remediating source waters impacted by PFAS. However, PFAS-laden granular activated carbons create a PFAS laden side waste stream when exhausted during treatment.
In this project, our team evaluated the PFAS destruction potential of regenerating granular activated carbons that were used for PFAS adsorption. This project responded to a contemporary water emergency that requires attention in Massachusetts as well as the nation.
Our results indicated that the type of PFAS, regeneration conditions and granular activated carbon properties are imperative for destruction of PFAS. Long chain PFAS are likely to retain on carbon, which may increase their carbon-PFAS interactions while short chain PFAS are likely to evaporate and escape to gas phase. In addition, some carbon properties e.g., microporosity and high surface were shown to degrade over time after repetitive carbon regeneration. - Does this project relate to research, outreach and engagement, or education and training? (enter one of these options in the space below)
Research - Which of these USGS science priorities best aligns with this project: water observing; water availability; water prediction; water related emergencies and conflicts; or water-data infrastructure? (enter one of these options in the space below)
Water Related Emergencies and Conflicts - Please list up to three keywords that are most relevant to this project (see keyword list provided in the instruction document):
Contaminant transport, Water quality