The PFAS Problem: Testing & Remediation Challenges

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In the world of environmental consulting, the emerging contaminant of concern at the forefront of investigation, regulation, and remediation is PFAS. You’ve probably heard a little bit about it as PFAS has become a hot topic of conversation surrounding the protection of human health. PFAS is an acronym for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. They are Persistent Organic Pollutants or POPs. These ‘forever chemicals’ are compounds that resist environmental degradation through chemical, biological, and photolytic processes.

EPA New Drinking Water Health Advisory for PFAS Chemicals

The myriad challenges surrounding PFAS include the fact that no federal regulations yet exist. On June 15, 2022, the EPA issued a lifetime drinking water health advisory for 4 PFAS species. Two of those are perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), which garnered eye-popping low health advisory levels of 0.004 and 0.02 parts per trillion (ng/L) respectively. These levels are dramatically lower than the EPA’s 2016 recommendation of 70 ppt for the two compounds. The EPA’s new advisory levels aren’t yet requirements, but they do open the door for further EPA action.

PFAS Health Risks

The health concerns driving the discussion around PFAS include:

  • Increased cholesterol levels or risk of obesity

  • Interference with the body’s natural hormones

  • Suppressed immune system and vaccine response

  • Increased risk of cancers affecting reproductive organs and kidneys

  • Reproductive effects such as decreased fertility or increased high blood pressure in pregnant women

  • Developmental effects or delays in children, including low birth weight, accelerated puberty, bone variations, or behavioral changes

Diet is the main route of exposure to PFAS chemicals. Drinking water may also provide a significant source and to a lesser extent dust and indoor air exposure. An EWG analysis found that more than 2,000 communities, serving more than 43 million people, have drinking water with levels of PFAS that are above new EPA health advisories, as shown in this interactive PFAS contamination map of the U.S. This speaks to the ubiquitous presence of PFAS in our environment.

PFAS Sampling Challenges

Preventing contamination during sampling is key.

Challenges surrounding PFAS include the fact that while there are state regulations, these regulations are hardly uniform from state to state. The sheer quantity of PFAS compounds in existence, low detection levels required, and challenging field sampling practices make up some of the other difficulties surrounding PFAS detection and delineation. Many field materials typically used in sampling may contain PFAS. Examples of these materials include tubing, sampling containers, and sampling tools. It is recommended to use PFAS-free containers like high-density polyethylene. Additionally, many consumer goods brought to the job site have the potential to contaminate samples collected for PFAS. Accurate PFAS sampling requires knowledgeable professionals who will carefully adhere to the long list of rigorous field practices needed to ensure appropriate quality control.

PFAS Soil Remediation

The stability of PFAS makes it extremely persistent in the environment.

Chemically, PFAS are a diverse group of compounds that have an incredible range of uses thanks to their unique chemical properties which include a carbon-fluorine hydrophobic (water repellent) tail and a polar and hydrophilic (water soluble) head. This allows the various PFAS species to partition in varying degrees across media and depending on the specific molecule can mobilize in groundwater or sorb to organic carbon in soil or sediment. PFAS compounds also behave as surfactants, complicating their behavior in the environment. Variable partitioning coefficients for octanol and carbon across the PFAS spectrum also make it difficult to know how each type of PFAS will behave in the environment. Generally, the remediation of soil contaminated with PFAS is extremely challenging as PFAS have strong chemical structures and their bonding with soil makes their elimination from it difficult.

Traditional soil remediation methods don’t work for PFAS.

Immobilization via the injection of colloidal activated carbon in a polymer solution is widely used in the treatment of PFAS-contaminated soil. It has been observed that traditional methods of soil remediation have not been successful in the reduction and removal of PFAS from the environment. Pump and treat solutions from a traditional standpoint have not been practical. Air stripping and soil vacuum extraction, which rely on volatilization, have also been found to be ineffective for PFAS. Soil washing and thermal treatment techniques have been tested but they are expensive and energy-intensive due to the large volume of washing solvent needed and the high melting point of PFAS respectively. Therefore, sorption and stabilization have been utilized more effectively than targeted destruction or removal of PFAS compounds. Arresting the spread of PFAS is sometimes referred to as enhanced attenuation.

PFAS is Everywhere

What products have PFAS?

The reason for PFAS’ seeming omnipresence is that products that contain PFAS include non-stick cookware, food packaging like popcorn bags and pizza boxes, stain and water-resistant sprays, applications on carpets and furniture, firefighting foam, and many more.

PFAS are also frequently detected at fire training and response sites, certain industrial facilities, landfills, wastewater treatment plants, and in biosolids. Aqueous film-forming foams (AFFF) are used in firefighting and have been known to contain members of the PFAS family. AFFF has been a key culprit in PFAS investigation and cleanup efforts.

PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ are in your blood.

PFAS are found in the blood of virtually everyone, including newborn babies. Two of the most common types of PFAS are PFOS and PFOA. PFOS and PFOA’s production was phased out in the United States in 2002 and 2015 respectively. However, according to the Centers for Disease Control, PFOA and PFOS are found in nearly every American person’s bloodstream in the parts per billion range. The estimated half-life for PFOS, PFOA, and PFHxS in human blood serum ranges from 3.8 to 8.5 years once ingested.

PFAS are indeed everywhere. This is due in part to the fact that they bioaccumulate in the food web, meaning that concentrations of PFAS tend to increase at the top; organisms of higher trophic levels aggregate the contaminants already present in their prey at a rate faster than they can be metabolized and excreted.  

Interestingly, the PFAS family includes over 9,000 synthetic chemicals. Around 4700 PFAS substances have registry numbers with the American Chemical Society but it is only believed that 256 of these compounds are commercially relevant. Partially because of this large number of PFAS family members, the magnitude and diversity of these species in the environment is largely unknown. PFAS are seemingly a Pandora’s box of chemical litter.

Analyzing PFAS

The technology surrounding PFAS analysis is very much in flux.

Further complicating the picture and highlighting the PFAS problem is that there is no universally accepted definition of PFAS. Generally, PFAS are characterized as having carbon atoms linked to each other and bonded to fluorine atoms at most or all of the available carbon bonding sites. In terms of how PFAS actually affect humans, health and toxicity studies are limited to a small fraction of PFAS species and current analytical techniques can usually only identify about 50-60 PFAS. Analytical methods sensitive enough to detect environmentally relevant levels of PFAS didn’t become widely available until around 2010 and later. Additionally, there is a dearth of toxicological studies across the PFAS spectrum; our understanding of PFAS and the risks they pose is rapidly evolving.

PFAS Action in Indiana

What is IDEM doing related to PFAS?

In addition to following nationwide trends, KERAMIDA has been tracking action by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) at the local level. IDEM is performing sampling at military bases around the state where PFAS AFFF was used. Additionally, following 2020 legislation, IDEM, the Indiana Finance Authority (IFA), and the Indiana Department of Homeland Security (IDHS) are partnering to collect fire-fighting foam that contains PFAS compounds from fire departments around the state. IDEM is also collecting Ohio River water samples to determine background levels for PFAS in this waterway. The prevalence of PFAS has resulted in low-level environmental contamination of environmental media worldwide. There is much work to be done to establish levels of PFAS across air, water, and land to see where concentrations are elevated in relation to specific sites and what this means to human health and the health of the environment.

‘Forever chemicals’ found in Indiana water supplies.

IDEM recently performed testing on local water supplies and found 10 systems whose treated water contained some PFAS chemicals. These localities were Indiana American Water – Charlestown, Rural Membership Water Corp. of Clark County, Dubois Water Utilities, Danville Water Works, Rensselaer Water Department, Canaan Utilities, B&B Water Project Inc. in Monroe County, Morgan County Rural Water Co., North Manchester Water Department, and Tennyson Water Utility. This first phase of IDEM’s PFAS Sampling Project for Community Public Water Systems looked at 59 water systems. IDEM Screening Level Tables currently contain entries for PFAS chemicals perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS), perfluorobutane sulfonate, and potassium perfluorobutane sulfonate. Pending EPA action, there may be more added to the list soon.

Upcoming PFAS Regulation

The EPA plans to propose mandatory drinking water limits for PFOA and PFOS in the fall of 2022. PFOA and PFOS are the two PFAS compounds that garnered the most initial attention in PFAS research. However, as more is being understood in this changing niche, other less common analytes and all other PFAS species are also gaining more attention as more is being learned about them.

KERAMIDA has been in talks with our laboratory providers so that we can stay up to date and ensure that we have the appropriate capability to sample matrices of interest including drinking water, surface and stormwater, wastewater, biosolids and wastewater sludge, leachate, solid waste, soil, ash, and more. Further, KERAMIDA’s experts in regulation, environmental science, chemistry, and laboratory technique have our fingers on the pulse of this emerging contaminant of importance and what it means for our diverse client base. Sampling and analysis methods for PFAS in other environmental media are under development and are in a shifting phase of technical development. A phase KERAMIDA will be monitoring closely.

If your company is in need of expert advice on PFAS, contact us today to see what KERAMIDA can do for you. Fill out our quick response form or call (800) 508-8034 to speak with one of our professionals today.

Blog Author

John Young
Senior Project Manager
KERAMIDA Inc.

Contact John at jyoung@keramida.com