The Transport of Emerging Contaminants (Microplastics and PFAS) in Landfill-Wastewater Treatment Systems

Scott, John; Prada, Andres; Green, Lee

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/121571 Copy

Description

Title

The Transport of Emerging Contaminants (Microplastics and PFAS) in Landfill-Wastewater Treatment Systems

Author(s)

• Scott, John
• Prada, Andres
• Green, Lee

Issue Date

2023-12

Keyword(s)

• Microplastics
• PFAS
• Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances
• Wastewater treatment

Geographic Coverage

Illinois

Abstract

Landfills and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are known point sources for many emerging contaminants, including microplastics and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Previous studies have considered these two systems independently and have estimated the transport of these two emerging contaminants separately as well. In addition, previous studies have only reported concentrations of microplastics in counts per liter and gram, which do not provide the information needed to estimate the actual mass entering and exiting these systems. In this study, we sampled the inputs and outputs of four different landfill-WWTP systems in Illinois and studied the transport of microplastic and PFAS jointly, providing mass concentrations of both contaminants in landfill leachate, WWTP influent, effluent, and biosolids. Microplastics in WWTP influents (93−560 μg/L) were similar in magnitude compared to landfill leachates (17−120 μg/L) as inputs to these systems. Higher concentrations of PFAS were found in leachates (6,300−16,000 μg/L) than WWTP influent (94−509 μg/L). After treatment, both contaminants were detected in WWTP effluent and biosolids, with higher prevalence of both contaminants in the biosolids. Microplastics in biosolids ranged from 2,300-104,000 μg/kg and ranged from 0.50−3.7 μg/L in the WWTP effluent. The PFAS content in biosolids ranged from 2.0-ng/g (part-per-billion), while effluent contained PFAS ranging from 66-3700 ng/L (part-per-trillion). We conclude that WWTPs do efficiently remove PFAS from the effluent that is discharged to nearby surface waters. However, these contaminants were found to partition in the resulting biosolids. This finding has implications for further use of this material in land applications.

Publisher

Champaign, IL : Illinois Sustainable Technology Center

Series/Report Name or Number

TR Series (Illinois Sustainable Technology Center) ; 80

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Sponsor(s)/Grant Number(s)

Hazardous Waste Research Fund ; HWR21-259

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