Foam fractionation of PFAS from landfill leachate using a membrane electrochemical reactor

IF 7.1 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ENGINEERING, ENVIRONMENTAL

Waste management Pub Date : 2025-09-24 DOI:10.1016/j.wasman.2025.115154

Biraj Saha , Himani Yadav , Md Tanbir Khan , Mohamed Ateia , Sujan Fernando , Syeed Md Iskander

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Abstract

The effective removal of PFAS from chemically complex landfill leachate remains a significant challenge for the solid waste industry. To address this, a membrane electrochemical reactor (MER) was investigated for PFAS removal from landfill leachate at low pH (∼2.0) in the anode chamber. The MER achieved 95.6 % PFAS removal from landfill leachate within seven hours of operation, with 98.3 % of perfluorosulfonic acids (PFSA) and 85.5 % of perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCA) removed from the leachate. Short-chain PFSAs (C ≤ 6, 92.5–99.1 %) were removed more efficiently than PFCAs (C ≤ 6, 80.8–90 %), possibly due to their stronger affinity for the air–water interface, which enhanced foam-based separation. Long-chain PFAS (C > 6) showed near-complete removal (96.1–100 %). Importantly, PFAS precursors such as fluorotelomer carboxylic acids and perfluoroalkane sulfonyl fluorides were not detected in defoamed leachate, suggesting their removal through both oxidative transformation and foam-phase partitioning in the MER. Simple pH adjustment to 2.0 using concentrated H₂SO₄, conducted for comparison with the MER, resulted in 83.1 % of PFAS separation into foam and 11.3 % into settled solids. Additionally, short-chain PFAS were separated into foam (59.2–84.7 %) and settled solids (5.7–13 %), while long-chain PFAS showed similar trends with 78.3–86 % in foam and 5.3–18.2 % in settled solids. The addition of 0.1 M NaHCO₃ before pH adjustment enhanced foam formation, increasing PFAS separation in foam to 92.5 %. This study highlights MER’s effective PFAS removal performance without any solid precipitate generation. Further research should explore the effect of MER operational conditions and leachate–PFAS chemistry on the treatment performance.

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膜电化学反应器泡沫分馏垃圾渗滤液中PFAS的研究。

从化学复杂的垃圾填埋场渗滤液中有效去除PFAS仍然是固体废物工业面临的重大挑战。为了解决这个问题，研究了膜电化学反应器（MER）在阳极室低pH（~ 2.0）下从垃圾渗滤液中去除PFAS的方法。在运行的7小时内，垃圾填埋场渗滤液中PFAS的去除率达到95.6% %，全氟磺酸（PFSA）的去除率为98.3% %，全氟羧酸（PFCA）的去除率为85.5% %。短链pfsa （C ≤ 6,92.5 -99.1 %）的去除率高于PFCAs (C ≤ 6,80.8 -90 %)，这可能是由于它们对空气-水界面的亲和力更强，从而增强了泡沫基分离。长链PFAS （C > 6）几乎完全去除（96.1-100 %）。重要的是，PFAS前体如氟端聚体羧酸和全氟烷烃磺酰氟在消泡渗滤液中未被检测到，这表明它们通过氧化转化和MER中的泡沫相分配被去除。使用浓H2SO4将pH调整到2.0，与MER进行比较，结果显示，83.1 %的PFAS分离成泡沫，11.3 %的PFAS分离成沉淀固体。此外，短链PFAS分离为泡沫（59.2-84.7 %）和沉淀固体（5.7-13 %），长链PFAS分离为泡沫（78.3-86 %）和沉淀固体（5.3-18.2 %）。在pH调整前加入0.1 M NaHCO3促进了泡沫的形成，使泡沫中PFAS的分离率提高到92.5 %。该研究强调了MER在不产生任何固体沉淀的情况下有效去除PFAS的性能。进一步的研究应探讨MER操作条件和渗滤液- pfas化学对处理性能的影响。

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来源期刊

Waste management 环境科学-工程：环境

CiteScore

15.60

自引率

6.20%

发文量

492

审稿时长

39 days

期刊介绍： Waste Management is devoted to the presentation and discussion of information on solid wastes,it covers the entire lifecycle of solid. wastes. Scope: Addresses solid wastes in both industrialized and economically developing countries Covers various types of solid wastes, including: Municipal (e.g., residential, institutional, commercial, light industrial) Agricultural Special (e.g., C and D, healthcare, household hazardous wastes, sewage sludge)