Issue 11, 2019

Leachate emissions of short- and long-chain per- and polyfluoralkyl substances (PFASs) from various Norwegian landfills

Abstract

Restrictions on the use of long-chain per- and polyfluoralkyl substances (PFASs) has led to substitutions with short-chain PFASs. This study investigated the presence of four short-chain PFASs and twenty-four long-chain PFASs in leachate and sediment from ten Norwegian landfills, including one site in Svalbard, to assess whether short-chain PFASs are more dominant in leachate. PFASs were detected in all sites. Short-chain PFASs were major contributors to the total PFAS leachate concentrations in six of ten landfills, though not in Svalbard. In sediment, long-chain PFASs such as perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and PFOS-precursors were dominant. Short-chain PFAS leachate concentrations ranged from 68 to 6800 ng L−1 (mean: 980 ± 1800; median: 360 ng L−1), whereas long-chain concentrations ranged from 140 to 2900 ng L−1 (mean: 530 ± 730; median: 290 ng L−1). Sediment concentrations, which contained mainly long-chain PFASs, ranged from 8.5 to 120 μg kg−1 (mean: 47 ± 36; median: 41 μg kg−1). National Image ID:c9em00170k-t1.gif release from Norwegian landfills to the environment was estimated to be 17 ± 29 kg per year (median: 6.3 kg per year), which is in the same range as national emissions from the US, China and Germany after normalizing the data to a per capita emission factor (3.2 ± 5.5 mg per person per year). Results from this study are compared with previous and current studies in other countries, indicating a general trend that short-chain PFASs are dominating over long-chain PFASs in landfill leachate emissions.

Graphical abstract: Leachate emissions of short- and long-chain per- and polyfluoralkyl substances (PFASs) from various Norwegian landfills

  • This article is part of the themed collection: PFAS

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
10 Apr 2019
Accepted
07 Aug 2019
First published
09 Aug 2019
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts, 2019,21, 1970-1979

Leachate emissions of short- and long-chain per- and polyfluoralkyl substances (PFASs) from various Norwegian landfills

H. Knutsen, T. Mæhlum, K. Haarstad, G. A. Slinde and H. P. H. Arp, Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts, 2019, 21, 1970 DOI: 10.1039/C9EM00170K

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