Journal article
Analysis of wastewater treatment plant data identifies the drivers of PFAS enrichment in foams
ACE We, AD Stickland, BO Clarke, S Freguia
Water Research | PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD | Published : 2024
Open access
Abstract
The concept of incorporating foam fractionation in aerated bioreactors at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) for the removal of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) has recently been proposed. The extent of PFAS enrichment in aerated bioreactors’ foams, as indicated by enrichment factors (EFs), has been observed to vary widely. Laboratory evidence has shown that factors affecting PFAS enrichment in foams include conductivity, surfactant concentrations and initial PFAS concentrations. However, real wastewaters are complex heterogenous matrices with physical, chemical and biological characteristics potentially contributing to the phenomenon of PFAS partitioning into foams. In this study..
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Funding Acknowledgements
This work was funded by Melbourne Water and Greater Western Water through Water Research Australia. A.C.E.W. acknowledges a Melbourne Research Scholarship from the University of Melbourne and a Nancy Millis Memorial Award from Water Research Australia. We thank Christian Davey of the Statistical Consulting Centre at The Uni-versity of Melbourne for guidance with the statistical aspects of this study. We would also like to express our gratitude to Nick Soon, Chee Xiang Chen and the related personnel from Melbourne Water and Greater Western Water for assisting in sample collection. We thank the support from the ALEC research team. Part of this work was performed at the Materials Characterisation and Fabrication Platform (MCFP) at The University of Melbourne.