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Evaluation various sorbents for possible use as stabilizing agents for use in an in-situ solidification/stabilization (immobilization) treatment process for PFAS contaminated soils.
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United State Environmental Protection Agency - view all
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Last updated2 weeks ago
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Overview

A two-phased bench-scale study was conducted to evaluate various sorbents for possible use as chemical stabilizing agents, along with cement solidification, for possible use in an in-situ solidification/stabilization (immobilization) treatment process for per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) contaminated soils. The first phase involved sorption experiments for six selected PFAS compounds diluted in a water solution, using five selected sorbents: granular activated carbon (GAC), activated carbon-clay blend, modified clay, biochar, iron (Fe)-amended biochar, and Ottawa sand as a control media. The second phase involved chemical stabilization treatment (via sorption), using the most effective sorbent identified in the first phase, followed by solidification of two soils from PFAS-contaminated sites. Physical solidification was achieved by adding cement as a binding agent. Results from the first phase (sorption experiments) indicated that GAC was slightly more successful than the other sorbents in sorption performance for a 3,000 µg/L solution containing a mixture of the six selected PFAS analytes (500 µg/L concentration each of shorter- and longer-chain alkyl acids), and was the only sorbent used in the second phase of this study. While the GAC, activated carbon-clay blend, and modified clay sorbents showed similar sorption performance for the longer chain analytes tested, both the activated carbon-clay blend and modified clay, exhibited slightly less sorptive capacity than GAC for the shorter-chain alkyl acids. Immobilization effectiveness was evaluated by soil leachability testing using Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Method 1312, Synthetic Precipitation Leaching Procedure (SPLP) on the samples collected from two PFAS-contaminated sites. For the majority of the PFAS soil analytes, the addition of GAC sorbent (chemical stabilization) substantially reduced the leachability of PFAS compounds from the contaminated soil samples, and the addition of cement as a physical binding agent (solidification) further decreased leachability for a few of the PFAS compounds. Overall immobilization of PFAS analytes that were detectable in the leachate from two PFAS contaminated soils ranged from 87.1% to 99.9%. Therefore, it is reasonable to consider that the laboratory testing results presented here may have application to further pilot or limited field-scale studies within a broader suite of PFAS-contaminated site treatment options that are currently available for treating PFAS contaminated soils. This dataset is associated with the following publication: Barth, E., J. McKernan, D. Bless, and K. Dasu. Investigation of an immobilization process for PFAS contaminated soils. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, USA, 296: 113069, (2021).

LeachingPFASPFOAPFOScarbonimmobilizationremediation
Additional Information
KeyValue
Dcat Modified2019-09-30
Dcat Publisher NameU.S. EPA Office of Research and Development (ORD)
Guidhttps://doi.org/10.23719/1524628
Harvest Object Id2374b78e-4696-4d30-9e98-146851fca1a9
Harvest Source Idb8e63f83-bbb9-45d3-a3de-09607cc9ff8a
Harvest Source TitleUSEPA Environmental Dataset Gateway
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