Remediation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in contaminated water by sorption to pine- and spruce bark

Abstract: PFAS are anthropogenic substances used in many different industrial operations and products because of their unique properties. Due to their negative impact on human health and environmental bioaccumulative characteristics different authorities have addressed the issue. In Sweden the limit is4 ng/L for four different PFAS in drinking water. Another risk to human health is elevated concentrations of toxic elements, causing Sweden to include them in the drinking water regulations withlimits such as 5 µg/L for arsenic, 25 µg/L for chromium and 5 µg/L for lead.This study is a continuation of an investigation for PFAS remediation in contaminated water by sorption to pine and spruce bark. The earlier study was a laboratory scale and implied that pine and spruce have some sorption capacity for long-chain PFAS. In this study pine and spruce bark were used as sorbent at an industrial site. The analysis was performed by weak-anion exchange extraction followed bysupercritical fluid chromatography coupled with a tandem mass spectrometer (SFC-MS/MS) and liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometer (LC-MS/MS) for instrumental analyses of target ultra-short-chain PFAS, short- and long chain PFAS and branched PFOS isomers. An elemental analysis was executed with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The obtained results indicated removal for certain long-chain PFAS, potential for sorption of a specific ultra-short-chain PFAS and the elemental analysis implied some reduction of the chromium concentrations.