Sorption behaviour of perfluoroalkyl substances in soils
Abstract
The sorption behaviour of three perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS), was studied in six soils with contrasting characteristics, especially in the organic carbon content. Sorption isotherms were obtained by equilibrating the soil samples with 0.01 mol L(-1) CaCl2 solutions spiked with increasing concentrations of the target PFAS. The sorption reversibility of PFASs was also tested for some of the samples. Liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry was used to quantify the target PFASs in the solutions. Both the Freundlich and linear models were appropriate to describe the sorption behaviour of PFASs in soils, and enabled us to derive solid-liquid distribution coefficients (Kd) for each compound in each soil. Kd values increased from 19 to 295 mL g(-1) for PFOS, from 2.2 to 38 mL g(-1) for PFOA and from 0.4 to 6.8 mL g(-1) for PFBS, and were positively correlated with the organic carbon content of the soil. KOC values obtained from the correlations were 710, 96 and 17 mL g(-1) for PFOS, PFOA and PFBS, respectively. Whereas Kd values decreased in the sequence PFOS>PFOA>PFBS, desorption yields were lower than 13% for PFOS, from 24 to 58% for PFOA, and from 32 to 60% for PFBS. This shows that the physicochemical characteristics of PFASs, basically their hydrophobicity, controlled their sorption behaviour in soils, with PFOS being the most irreversibly sorbed PFAS.
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KOC values increased with higher PFAS hydrophobicity.
“K OC values increased with higher PFAS hydrophobicity”
From Modelling the sorption behaviour of perfluoroalkyl carboxylates and perfluoroalkane sulfonates in soils (2021) · cites this paper as Milinovic et al., 2015
Soil organic carbon generally governs sorption of PFCAs and PFOS in soils and sediments with organic-carbon contents of 1% or more.
“Prior research has indicated that soil organic carbon generally controls sorption of PFCAs and PFOS for soils and sediments with organic-carbon contents in this range and higher (e.g., Higgins and Luthy, 2006; Milinovic et al., 2015; Brusseau et al., 2019b).”
From PFAS concentrations in soil versus soil porewater: Mass distributions and the impact of adsorption at air-water interfaces (2022) · cites this paper as Milinovic et al., 2015
Variability in data increases with decrease in Kd of the compound, as desorption of PFAAs increases with decrease in Kd.
“This is supported by the fact that the variability in data increases with the decrease in K d of the compound, as the desorption of PFAAs increase with the decrease in K d of the compound (Milinovic et al., 2015).”
From Perfluoroalkyl acids on suspended particles: Significant transport pathways in surface runoff, surface waters, and subsurface soils (2021) · cites this paper as Milinovic et al., 2015
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- Authors
- Milinovic, J., Lacorte, S., Vidal, M., & Rigol, A.
- Affiliations
- Universitat de Barcelona (ES)
- Corresponding author
- Rigol, Anna
- Venue
- Science of The Total Environment
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2015-04
- Volume
- 511
- Pages
- 63-71
- ISSN
- 0048-9697 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2050350408
- Cited by
- 387
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 49 · 2025: 61 · 2024: 41 · 2023: 45 · 2022: 52 · 2021: 43 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 27 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 10
- FWCI
- 6.33
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Science of The Total Environment (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología (CTM 2008-01147/TECNO, CTM 2011\u201327211)
- Generalitat de Catalunya (2009SGR1188, 2010FI_B 00513)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances research
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Pesticide and Herbicide Environmental Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Environmental Chemistry and Analysis
- Keywords
- perfluorinated compounds, PFOS, perfluorooctanoic acid, PFBS, soil sorption, sorption isotherms, Freundlich isotherm, distribution coefficient, organic carbon content, sorption reversibility, desorption, hydrophobicity, soil contamination
- MeSH terms
- Caprylates, Fluorocarbons, Models, Chemical, Soil, Soil Pollutants, Alkanesulfonic Acids, Absorption, Physicochemical
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