Concentrations of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances before and after full-scale landfill leachate treatment
Open accessAbstract
Many consumer and industrial products, industrial wastes and dewatered sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plants containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are disposed of in landfills at the end of their usage, with PFAS in these products leached into landfill leachates. On-site leachate treatment is one possible method to reduce PFAS in leachates. Many landfills are equipped with on-site leachate treatment systems, but few full-scale facilities have been systematically evaluated for PFAS concentration changes. The objective of this study was to evaluate a cross-section of full-scale on-site landfill treatment systems to measure changes in PFAS concentrations. Leachate samples were collected before and after treatment from 15 facilities and were evaluated for 26 PFAS, including 11 perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs), 7 perfluoroalkyl sulfonic acids (PFSAs), and 8 perfluoroalkyl acid precursors (PFAA-precursors). Transformation of precursors was evaluated by the total oxidizable precursor (TOP) assay. Results showed no obvious reductions in total measured PFAS (∑26 PFAS) for on-site treatment systems including ponds, aeration tanks, powdered activated carbon (PAC), and sand filtration. Among evaluated on-site treatment systems, only systems fitted with reverse osmosis (RO) showed significant reductions (98-99 %) of ∑26 PFAS in the permeate. Results from the TOP assay showed that untargeted PFAA-precursors converted into targeted short-chain PFCAs increasing ∑26 PFAS in oxidized samples by 30 %, on average. Overall, results of this study confirm the efficacy of RO systems and suggest the presence of additional precursors beyond those measured in this study.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Studies that oxidized landfill leachate reported minimum to moderate changes in PFAS concentrations, suggesting that unknown PFAS transformed biotically or abiotically in landfill cells.
“Similarly, studies that oxidized landfill leachate reported minimum to moderate changes in PFAS concentrations, suggesting that unknown PFAS transformed biotically or abiotically in landfill cells 43,44 .”
From Underestimated burden of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in global surface waters and groundwaters (2024) · cites this paper as [44]
Section 3.3 (TOP assay; page not provided) reports a 30% average increase in measured PFAS after oxidation and evidence of untargeted precursors. The Conclusion (page not provided) supports precursor transformation during leachate treatment. Neither passage establishes that unknown PFAS transformed biotically or abiotically within landfill cells; the paper examines treatment systems and laboratory oxidation of leachate. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredAmong evaluated treatment systems in previous Florida studies, only reverse osmosis separated over 90% PFAS from the permeate.
“In addition, among evaluated treatment systems, only reverse osmosis separated over 90% PFAS from the permeate (Chen et al., 2022; Zhang et al., 2022).”
From Evaluation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in landfill liquids from Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Wisconsin (2024) · cites this paper as Chen et al., 2022
The MBBR treatment system in the current study had a similar aeration treatment process (aerobic biological treatment) as the SBR treatment in the other studies.
“The MBBR treatment system in the current study had a similar aeration treatment process (aerobic biological treatment) as the SBR treatment in the other studies.”
From Evaluation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in landfill liquids from Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Wisconsin (2024) · cites this paper as Chen et al., 2022
PFAS can be released from consumer products to result in high levels of PFAS in landfill leachates.
“Studies have shown that PFAS can be released from these consumer products to result in high levels of PFAS in landfill leachates (Benskin et al., 2012; Chen et al., 2022; Hamid et al., 2018; Podder et al., 2021; Solo-Gabriele et al., 2020).”
From Evaluation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in leachate, gas condensate, stormwater and groundwater at landfills (2023) · cites this paper as Chen et al., 2022
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 55 · Cited by 54
Research works printed but not linked: 4
- H&H, PC (March 10, 2020). North Carolina Collective Study Report: Collective Study of PFAS and 1,4-Dioxane in Landfill Leachate and Estimated Influence on Wastewater Treatment Plant Facility Influent, National Waste & Recycling Association -Carolinas Chapter.
- EPA, 2016. Lifetime health advisories and health effects support documents for perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctane sulfonate. Fed. Reg. 81 (101), 33250-33251.
- EPA, 2022. Lifetime Drinking Water Health Advisories for Four Perfluoroalkyl Substances. Fed. Reg. 87 (118), 36848-36849.
- Verbovšek T, 2011. A comparison of parameters below the limit of detection in geochemical analyses by substitution methods Primerjava ocenitev parametrov pod mejo določljivosti pri geokemičnih analizah z metodo nadomeščanja. RMZ -Materials and Geoenvironment 58 (4), 393-404.
- Authors
- Chen, Y., Zhang, H., Liu, Y., Bowden, J. A., Tolaymat, T. M., Townsend, T. G., & Solo-Gabriele, H. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Miami (US)
- University of Florida (US)
- Environmental Protection Agency (US)
- Venue
- Waste Management
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2022-11
- Volume
- 153
- Pages
- 110-120
- ISSN
- 0956-053X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC10463282
- OpenAlex
- W4295335452
- Cited by
- 54
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 2
- FWCI
- 3.81
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Licence
- Locations
- Waste Management (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (839620010, EPA-G2018-STAR-B1)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances research
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Waste Management and Disposal › Landfill Environmental Impact Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Waste Management and Disposal › Wastewater Treatment and Reuse
- Keywords
- per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS, landfill leachate, reverse osmosis, precursor transformation, total oxidizable precursor assay, perfluorinated carboxylic acids, perfluoroalkyl sulfonic acids, activated carbon, sand filtration, aeration tank, sewage sludge
- MeSH terms
- Sand, Carboxylic Acids, Charcoal, Environmental Monitoring, Fluorocarbons, Industrial Waste, Sewage, Sulfonic Acids, Water Pollutants, Chemical
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
