Synergetic degradation of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in soil using electrical resistance heating induced persulfate activation

Mingxiu Zhan; Liutao Wu; Xu Xu; Jinqing Wang; Yongping Shan; Yongguang Yin; Wentao Jiao; John P Giesy

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165497

Synergetic degradation of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in soil using electrical resistance heating induced persulfate activation

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Nov 20:900:165497. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165497. Epub 2023 Jul 13.

Authors

Mingxiu Zhan¹, Liutao Wu², Xu Xu², Jinqing Wang³, Yongping Shan⁴, Yongguang Yin⁴, Wentao Jiao⁵, John P Giesy⁶

Affiliations

¹ College of Metrology and Measurement Engineering, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou 310018, Zhejiang, China; Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
² College of Metrology and Measurement Engineering, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou 310018, Zhejiang, China.
³ College of Metrology and Measurement Engineering, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou 310018, Zhejiang, China. Electronic address: jqwang@cjlu.edu.cn.
⁴ Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
⁵ Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China. Electronic address: wtjiao@rcees.ac.cn.
⁶ Toxicology Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada; Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada; Department of Integrative Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA; Department of Environmental Sciences, Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA.

PMID: 37451438
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165497

Abstract

Due to wastes from production of fluorinated materials and use of aqueous fire-fighting foams (AFFF), soils contaminated with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is of concern. However, current PFOA-contaminated soil disposal techniques have relatively low degradation efficiencies and are not suitable for on-site remediation. In this study, an electrical resistance heating (ERH) device and a box experimental device were used to study whether ERH induced persulfate activation (ERH/PS) could degrade PFOA in the soil. The results indicated that single ERH and single PS addition could not effectively degrade PFOA (with approximately 0.3 % and 3.9 % degradation after 9 h, respectively), while the degradation efficiency of PFOA with coupled ERH/PS could reach 87.3 % after 9 h of reaction. Moreover, effects of PS content, heating temperature, and soil organic matter on the degradation of PFOA were explored. During the ERH/PS process, PFOA was gradually transformed into short chain perfluorinated compounds and finally mineralized to fluoride ions. Finally, using a box experimental device, PS was effectively transported to the target contaminated area through electrokinetic (EK)-assisted delivery. After activating PS through ERH, the degradation rate of PFOA could reach 95.5 %. This is a novel study demonstrating the feasibility of ERH induced PS activation to degrade PFOA in soil, which provides a potential on-site strategy for remediation of PFOA-contaminated soil.

Keywords: Contaminated soil remediation; Degradation mechanism; Electrical resistance heating induced persulfate activation (ERH/PS); Electrokinetics; Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).