TY - JOUR
T1 - Efficient adsorptive removal of short-chain perfluoroalkyl acids using reed straw-derived biochar (RESCA)
AU - Liu, Na
AU - Wu, Chen
AU - Lyu, Guifen
AU - Li, Mengyan
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was funded by National Science Foundation , United States (NSF, CBET-1903597 ), Environmental Protection Agency , United States, New Jersey Water Resources Research Institute ( NJWRRI , United States) - Private Well Supplement, and New Jersey Department of Health ( NJDOH , United States) - Fostering the Growth of Private Well Researchers at New Jersey's Universities. Na Liu was sponsored by the China Scholarship Council , China (CSC, File No. 201806400016 ). We appreciate the support of the Faculty Instrument Usage Seed Grant ( FIUSG , United States) from the NJIT Otto York Center and technical advice from Dr. Larisa Krishtopa and Dr. Som Mitra for PFAA analysis by LC/MS/MS. We thank Dr. Guangdong Huang for the advice on the simulation work. We thank Dr. Lucia Rodriguez-Freire and Dr. Wen Zhang for providing the instruments used in this study. We also thank Dr. Joseph Bozzelli (NJIT) for the improvement of the manuscript and Ms. Diana Cutt, Dr. Richard Wilkin, and Dr. Chunming Su (EPA) for their technical advice. Funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Funding Information:
This work was funded by National Science Foundation, United States (NSF, CBET-1903597), Environmental Protection Agency, United States, New Jersey Water Resources Research Institute (NJWRRI, United States) - Private Well Supplement, and New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH, United States) - Fostering the Growth of Private Well Researchers at New Jersey's Universities. Na Liu was sponsored by the China Scholarship Council, China (CSC, File No. 201806400016). We appreciate the support of the Faculty Instrument Usage Seed Grant (FIUSG, United States) from the NJIT Otto York Center and technical advice from Dr. Larisa Krishtopa and Dr. Som Mitra for PFAA analysis by LC/MS/MS. We thank Dr. Guangdong Huang for the advice on the simulation work. We thank Dr. Lucia Rodriguez-Freire and Dr. Wen Zhang for providing the instruments used in this study. We also thank Dr. Joseph Bozzelli (NJIT) for the improvement of the manuscript and Ms. Diana Cutt, Dr. Richard Wilkin, and Dr. Chunming Su (EPA) for their technical advice. Funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2021/12/1
Y1 - 2021/12/1
N2 - Drinking water and groundwater treatment of perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) heavily relies on adsorption-based approaches using carbonaceous materials, such as granular activated carbon (GAC). Application of GAC is restricted by its inefficiency to remove short-chain PFAAs that have prevalently emerged as substitutes and/or metabolites of long-chain polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Here, we synthesized reed straw-derived biochar (RESCA) exhibiting exceptional removal efficiencies (>92%) toward short-chain PFAAs at environment-relevant concentrations (e.g., 1 μg/L). Pseudo-second-order kinetic constants of RESCA were 1.13 and 1.23 L/(mg h) for perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA) and perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS), respectively, over six times greater than GAC. SEM imaging and BET analysis revealed the combination of highly hydrophobic surface and scattered distribution of mesopores (2–10 nm in diameter) was associated with the rapid adsorption of short-chain PFAAs. RESCA-packed filters demonstrated effective removal of the mixture of three short-chain and three long-chain PFAAs in the influent with the flow rate up to 45 mL/min. In contrast, GAC-packed filters were significantly less efficient in the removal of short-chain PFAAs, which were also negatively affected by the increase of the flow rate. Efficacy of RESCA-packed filters was also validated in four PFAA-spiked groundwater samples from different sites. Dissolved organic matter (DOC) of >8 mg/L can negatively affect the removal of short-chain PFAAs by RESCA. Feasibility of scaling up the RESCA adsorption system was investigated using breakthrough simulation. Overall, RESCA represents a green adsorbent alternative for the feasible and scalable treatment of a wide spectrum of PFAAs of different chain lengths and functional moieties.
AB - Drinking water and groundwater treatment of perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) heavily relies on adsorption-based approaches using carbonaceous materials, such as granular activated carbon (GAC). Application of GAC is restricted by its inefficiency to remove short-chain PFAAs that have prevalently emerged as substitutes and/or metabolites of long-chain polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Here, we synthesized reed straw-derived biochar (RESCA) exhibiting exceptional removal efficiencies (>92%) toward short-chain PFAAs at environment-relevant concentrations (e.g., 1 μg/L). Pseudo-second-order kinetic constants of RESCA were 1.13 and 1.23 L/(mg h) for perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA) and perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS), respectively, over six times greater than GAC. SEM imaging and BET analysis revealed the combination of highly hydrophobic surface and scattered distribution of mesopores (2–10 nm in diameter) was associated with the rapid adsorption of short-chain PFAAs. RESCA-packed filters demonstrated effective removal of the mixture of three short-chain and three long-chain PFAAs in the influent with the flow rate up to 45 mL/min. In contrast, GAC-packed filters were significantly less efficient in the removal of short-chain PFAAs, which were also negatively affected by the increase of the flow rate. Efficacy of RESCA-packed filters was also validated in four PFAA-spiked groundwater samples from different sites. Dissolved organic matter (DOC) of >8 mg/L can negatively affect the removal of short-chain PFAAs by RESCA. Feasibility of scaling up the RESCA adsorption system was investigated using breakthrough simulation. Overall, RESCA represents a green adsorbent alternative for the feasible and scalable treatment of a wide spectrum of PFAAs of different chain lengths and functional moieties.
KW - Adsorption
KW - Biochar
KW - Granular activated carbon (GAC)
KW - Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)
KW - Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAA)
KW - Perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA)
KW - Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS)
KW - Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA)
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85111267117&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149191
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149191
M3 - Article
C2 - 34333431
AN - SCOPUS:85111267117
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 798
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
M1 - 149191
ER -