Mobilization of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from heterogeneous soils: Desorption by ethanol/xanthan gum mixture

Remediating soils contaminated by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is a challenging task due to the unique properties of these compounds, such as variable solubility and resistance to degradation. In-situ soil flushing with solvents has been considered as a remediation technique for PFAS-contaminated soils. The use of non-Newtonian fluids, displaying variable viscosity depending on the applied shear rate, can offer certain advantages in improving the efficiency of the process, particularly in heterogeneous porous media. In this work, the efficacy of ethanol/xanthan mixture (XE) in the recovery of a mixture of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS), and perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS) from soil has been tested at lab-scale. XE’s non-Newtonian behavior was examined through rheological measurements, confirming that ethanol did not affect xanthan gum’s (XG) shear-thinning behavior. The recovery of PFAS in batch-desorption exceeded 95% in ethanol, and 99% in XE, except for PFBS which reached 94%. 1D-column experiments revealed overshoots in PFAS breakthrough curves during ethanol and XE injection, due to over-solubilization. XE, (XG 0.05% w/w) could recover 99% PFOA, 98% PFBS, 97% PFHxS, and 92% PFOS. Numerical modeling successfully reproduces breakthrough curves for PFOA, PFHxS, and PFBS with the convection-dispersion-sorption equation and Langmuir sorption isotherm.