Study on the fate of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances during thermophilic anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge and the role of granular activated carbon addition.

Limited information is available on the removal of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in anaerobic digestion (AD). Τhe fate of six PFAS was studied in thermophilic bioreactors in the presence of granular activated carbon (GAC) and voltage application. Reactors with GAC exhibited lower concentrations of volatile fatty acids and higher methane production compared to those with and without the application of voltage.

Grouping strategies for assessing and managing persistent and mobile substances.

Background: Persistent, mobile and toxic (PMT), or very persistent and very mobile (vPvM) substances are a wide class of chemicals that are recalcitrant to degradation, easily transported, and potentially harmful to humans and the environment. Due to their persistence and mobility, these substances are often widespread in the environment once emitted, particularly in water resources, causing increased challenges during water treatment processes. Some PMT/vPvM substances such as GenX and perfluorobutane sulfonic acid have been identified as substances of very high concern (SVHCs) under the European Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation.

Should Transformation Products Change the Way We Manage Chemicals?

When chemical pollutants enter the environment, they can undergo diverse transformation processes, forming a wide range of transformation products (TPs), some of them benign and others more harmful than their precursors. To date, the majority of TPs remain largely unrecognized and unregulated, particularly as TPs are generally not part of routine chemical risk or hazard assessment. Since many TPs formed from oxidative processes are more polar than their precursors, they may be especially relevant in the context of persistent, mobile, and toxic (PMT) and very persistent and very mobile (vPvM) substances, which are two new hazard classes that have recently been established on a European level.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) removal from soil washing water by coagulation and flocculation.

Soil washing is currently attracting attention as a promising remediation strategy for land contaminated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). In the soil washing process, the contaminant is transferred from the soil into the liquid phase, producing a PFAS contaminated process water. One way to treat such process water is to use coagulation and flocculation; however, few studies are available on the performance of coagulation and flocculation for removing PFAS from such process water.

Influence of grain size, organic carbon and organic matter residue content on the sorption of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in aqueous film forming foam contaminated soils - Implications for remediation using soil washing.

A soil that was historically contaminated with Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) was dry sieved into size fractions representative of those produced during soil washing. Batch sorption tests were then conducted to investigate the effect of soil parameters on in situ per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) sorption of these different size fractions: < 0.063 mm, 0.

Assessing the Persistence and Mobility of Organic Substances to Protect Freshwater Resources.

Persistent and mobile organic substances are those with the highest propensity to be widely distributed in groundwater and thereby, when emitted at low-levels, to contaminate drinking water extraction points and freshwater environments. To prevent such contamination, the European Commission is in the process of introducing new hazard classes for persistent, mobile, and toxic (PMT) and very persistent and very mobile (vPvM) substances within its key chemical regulations CLP and REACH. The assessment of persistence in these regulations will likely be based on simulated half-life, , thresholds; the assessment of mobility will likely be based on organic carbon-water distribution coefficient, , thresholds.

The NORMAN Suspect List Exchange (NORMAN-SLE): facilitating European and worldwide collaboration on suspect screening in high resolution mass spectrometry.

Background: The NORMAN Association (https://www.norman-network.com/) initiated the NORMAN Suspect List Exchange (NORMAN-SLE; https://www.

Occurrence, Distribution, and Environmental Behavior of Persistent, Mobile, and Toxic (PMT) and Very Persistent and Very Mobile (vPvM) Substances in the Sources of German Drinking Water.

Persistent, mobile, and toxic (PMT) and very persistent and very mobile (vPvM) substances have been recognized as a threat to both the aquatic environment and to drinking water resources. These substances are currently prioritized for regulatory action by the European Commission, whereby a proposal for the inclusion of hazard classes for PMT and vPvM substances has been put forward. Comprehensive monitoring data for many PMT/vPvM substances in drinking water sources are scarce.

Ultra-Short-Chain PFASs in the Sources of German Drinking Water: Prevalent, Overlooked, Difficult to Remove, and Unregulated.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have been a focal point of environmental chemistry and chemical regulation in recent years, culminating in a shift from individual PFAS regulation toward a PFAS group regulatory approach in Europe. PFASs are a highly diverse group of substances, and knowledge about this group is still scarce beyond the well-studied, legacy long-chain, and short-chain perfluorocarboxylates (PFCAs) and perfluorosulfonates (PFSAs). Herein, quantitative and semiquantitative data for 43 legacy short-chain and ultra-short-chain PFASs (≤2 perfluorocarbon atoms for PFCAs, ≤3 for PFSAs and other PFASs) in 46 water samples collected from 13 different sources of German drinking water are presented.

Sorption and Mobility of Charged Organic Compounds: How to Confront and Overcome Limitations in Their Assessment.

Permanently charged and ionizable organic compounds (IOC) are a large and diverse group of compounds belonging to many contaminant classes, including pharmaceuticals, pesticides, industrial chemicals, and natural toxins. Sorption and mobility of IOCs are distinctively different from those of neutral compounds. Due to electrostatic interactions with natural sorbents, existing concepts for describing neutral organic contaminant sorption, and by extension mobility, are inadequate for IOC.

The effects of soil organic matter on leaching of hexavalent chromium from concrete waste: Batch and column experiments.

Concrete is one of the most common building materials in the world and in accordance with the world's shift to a circular economy, there is a need of an increase in concrete reuse and recycling. One of the environmental concerns linked to concrete recycling is the leaching and spread of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)). In the present study the Cr(VI) leaching from crushed concrete waste and the effects of soil organic matter (SOM) on chromium (Cr) speciation has been investigated in realistic reuse scenarios by the means of batch shale tests and layered column tests.

A review of PFAS fingerprints in fish from Norwegian freshwater bodies subject to different source inputs.

The extensive use of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) has resulted in many environmental point and diffuse sources. Identifying the source responsible for a pollution hot spot is vital for assessing remediation measures, however, as there are many possible sources of environmental PFAS pollution, this can be challenging. Chemical fingerprinting has been proposed as an approach to identify contamination sources.

Excavated vs novel in situ soil washing as a remediation strategy for sandy soils impacted with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances from aqueous film forming foams.

In situ soil washing at the field scale has not yet been investigated as a remediation strategy for soils impacted by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). This remediation strategy is a promising low-cost alternative to other costlier remediation options like excavating, transporting and landfilling large amounts of PFAS contaminated soil. However, it is unclear if it is effective at the field scale, where large areas of heterogenous soil can be challenging to saturate with infiltration water and then pump to a treatment facility.

From landfills to landscapes-Nature-based solutions for water management taking into account legacy contamination.

Nature-based solutions (NBS) can be used in combination with the reopening of piped rivers to support area development. In certain cases, piped rivers can run through disused landfills. This presents a complicating factor because landfills provide the possibility for river water to be contaminated by waste.

The fate of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances in a marine food web influenced by land-based sources in the Norwegian Arctic.

Although poly- and perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) are ubiquitous in the Arctic, their sources and fate in Arctic marine environments remain unclear. Herein, abiotic media (water, snow, and sediment) and biotic media (plankton, benthic organisms, fish, crab, and glaucous gull) were sampled to study PFAS uptake and fate in the marine food web of an Arctic Fjord in the vicinity of Longyearbyen (Svalbard, Norwegian Arctic). Samples were collected from locations impacted by a firefighting training site (FFTS) and a landfill as well as from a reference site.

Paper product production identified as the main source of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in a Norwegian lake: Source and historic emission tracking.

The entirety of the sediment bed in lake Tyrifjorden, Norway, is contaminated by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). A factory producing paper products and a fire station were investigated as possible sources. Fire station emissions were dominated by the eight carbon perfluoroalkyl sulfonic acid (PFSA), perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), from aqueous film forming foams.

Stabilization of PFAS-contaminated soil with activated biochar.

Biochars are considered potential sustainable sorbents to reduce the leaching of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from contaminated soils. However, biochar characteristics must probably be optimized to achieve useful sorption capacity. In the present work, eight waste timber biochars were produced, including biochars activated to different degrees, at different temperatures, and using both steam and CO.

A review on the stereospecific fate and effects of chiral conazole fungicides.

The production and use of chiral pesticides are triggered by the need for more complex molecules capable of effectively combating a greater spectrum of pests and crop diseases, while sustaining high production yields. Currently, chiral pesticides comprise about 30% of all pesticides in use; however, some pesticide groups such as conazole fungicides (CFs) consist almost exclusively of chiral compounds. CFs are produced and field-applied as racemic (1:1) mixtures of two enantiomers (one chiral center in the molecule) or four diastereoisomers, i.