Environmental Health and Protection Commons^™

Environmental Fate And Transport Of Pfas In Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluent Discharged To Rapid Infiltration Basins, Kai M. Trobisch

Masters Theses

Fate and transport of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent discharged to rapid infiltration basins (RIBs) is investigated using data from 26 WWTPs in Michigan and numerical modeling to assess the role of air-water interface (AWI) sorption in modulating mass fluxes to the saturated zone. Analysis of RIB physical properties yields a median separation distance of 6.5 meters between land surface and the water table, and a continuum of area-normalized effluent fluxes ranging from 0.01 to 0.62 meters per day. A subset of WWTPs with RIBs indicate higher PFAS concentrations in groundwater than effluent with …

Per- And Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (Pfas) In Treated Sewage Sludge From Michigan Wastewater Treatment Plants, Garrett Wesley Link

Masters Theses

Concentrations, compositions, and variability of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in sewage sludge are characterized using an extensive dataset of 350 samples from 190 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) across Michigan. All samples are comprised of final treated sewage sludge generated at the end of the wastewater treatment process. Concentrations of Σ₂₄ PFAS are log normally distributed with a range of 1 to 3200 ng/g dry wt. and of average 108 ± 277 ng/g dry wt. Compounds with carboxyl and sulfonic functional groups comprised 29% and 71% of Σ24 PFAS concentrations, respectively, on average. Primary sample variability is associated with …

Per- And Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (Pfas) In Treated Sewage Sludge From Michigan Wastewater Treatment Plants, Garrett Wesley Link

Masters Theses

Concentrations, compositions, and variability of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in sewage sludge are characterized using an extensive dataset of 350 samples from 190 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) across Michigan. All samples are comprised of final treated sewage sludge generated at the end of the wastewater treatment process. Concentrations of Σ₂₄ PFAS are log normally distributed with a range of 1 to 3200 ng/g dry wt. and of average 108 ± 277 ng/g dry wt. Compounds with carboxyl and sulfonic functional groups comprised 29% and 71% of Σ₂₄ PFAS concentrations, respectively, on average. Primary sample variability is associated …

Surface Complexation Modeling Of Cr(Vi) Absorption On Mineral Assemblages, Ann M. Gilchrist

Masters Theses

Hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) is a waste product of many anthropogenic processes. Because it is highly mobile, the improper disposal of Cr(VI) has caused widespread contamination. Because reduction and adsorption reactions may reduce the bioavailability and mobility of Cr(VI) in environmental systems, a better understanding of Cr(VI) adsorption behavior will improve remediation efforts.

Subsurfaces and soils are heterogeneous, however most studies focus on single sorbate/sorbent interactions to develop surface complexation models (SCM) for prediction of heavy metal adsorption. Theoretically, combining the SCMsdeveloped for single sorbate/sorbent systems should yield accurate predictions of adsorption in more complex systems (i.e., the component additivity approach …