Communities Impacted by PFAS and other Emerging Contaminants

PFAS Contamination

Researchers at the UA SRC are developing and testing the theory governing the transport of per- and poly- fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in environmental systems. Our work comprises:

  • The first investigations of the influence of adsorption at air-water and oil-water interfaces on the retention and transport of PFAS in porous media (Brusseau, 2018; Lyu et al., 2018; Brusseau et al., 2019; Brusseau, 2019a). 
  • Demonstration that these retention processes have significant impact on PFAS migration and storage in source zones.
  • Development of the first comprehensive conceptual and mathematical models for PFAS retention in multi-phase systems (Brusseau et al., 2019). 
  • Chemometric tools to develop the first quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) model for predicting interfacial adsorption coefficients for PFAS and, ultimately, retention and migration of PFAS in soil and groundwater systems (Brusseau, 2019b; Brusseau and Van Glubt, 2019).

This information is critical for improving characterization of contaminated sites, examining soil leaching potential, assessing exposure risk, developing management and mitigation strategies, and implementing effective remediation efforts.

Publications

Wang Y, Khan N, Huang D, Caroll KC, Brusseau ML.
2021
. Transport of PFOS in aquifer sediment: Transport behavior and a distributed-sorption model.
Science of the Total Environment
Volume 779, July 2021,
:
146444
.
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146444
Brusseau ML, Guo B, Huang D, Yan N, Lyu Y .
2021
. Ideal versus Nonideal Transport of PFAS in Unsaturated Porous Media.
Water research
202:117405
:
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2021.117405
PMC8559529
Brusseau ML, Guo B, Huang D, Yan N, Lyu Y.
2021
. Ideal versus Nonideal Transort of PFAS in Unsaturated Porous Media.
Water Research
202
:
117401
.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2021.117405
PMC8559529
Brusseau ML, Guo B.
2021
. Air-water interfacial areas relevant for transport of per and poly-fluoroalkyl substances.
Water Research
117785
:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2021.117785
Guo B , Zeng J , Brusseau ML.
2020
. A Mathematical Model for the Release, Transport, and Retention of Per‐ and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in the Vadose Zone.
Water Resources Research
56(2)
:
DOI:10.1029/2019WR026667
PMCID: PMC7673302
Brusseau ML, Anderson RH, Guo B.
2020
. PFAS concentrations in soils: Background levels versus contaminated sites.
Sci Total Environ
740(8)
:
140017
.
DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140017
PMID: 32927568
Lyu Y, Brusseau ML.
2020
. The influence of solution chemistry on air-water interfacial adsorption and transport of PFOA in unsaturated porous media.
Sci Total Environ
DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.136744
Yan N, Ji Y, Zhang B, Zheng X, Brusseau ML.
2020
. Transport of GenX in Saturated and Unsaturated Porous Media.
Environ. Sci. Technol
54
:
11876-11885
.
DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.9b07790
Brusseau ML.
2020
. Simulating PFAS transport influenced by rate-limited multi-process retention.
Water research
1;168
:
115179
.
DOI:10.1016/j.watres.2019.115179
31639593
PMC6957125
Brusseau ML, Yan N, Van Glubt S, Wang Y, Chen W, Lyu Y, Dungan B, Carroll KC, Holguin FM.
2019
. Comprehensive retention model for PFAS transport in subsurface systems.
148
:
41-50
.
DOI:10.1016/j.watres.2018.10.035
Brusseau ML.
2019
. The influence of molecular structure on the adsorption of PFAS to fluid-fluid interfaces: Using QSPR to predict interfacial adsorption coefficients.
Water Res
152
:
148-158
.
DOI:10.1016/j.watres.2018.12.057
PMCID: PMC6374777
Brusseau ML, Van Glubt S.
2019
. The influence of surfactant and solution composition on PFAS adsorption at fluid-fluid interfaces.
Water Research
15;161
:
17-26
.
DOI:10.1016/j.watres.2019.05.095
31174056
PMC7039257
Brusseau ML, Khan N, Wang Y, Yan N, Van Glubt S, Carroll KC.
2019
. Nonideal Transport and Extended Elution Tailing of PFOS in Soil.
Environmental science & technology
17;53(18)
:
10654-10664
.
DOI:10.1021/acs.est.9b02343
31464435
PMC6830724
Brusseau ML.
2019
. Estimating the relative magnitudes of adsorption to solid-water and air/oil-water interfaces for per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances.
Environmental pollution
254(Pt B)
:
113102
.
DOI:10.1016/j.envpol.2019.113102
31491699
PMC6800169
Brusseau ML.
2018
. Assessing the potential contributions of additional retention processes to PFAS retardation in the subsurface.
Sci. Total Environ
613-614
:
176-185
.
DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.09.065
Lyu Y, Brusseau ML, Chen W, Yan N, Fu X, Lin X.
2018
. Adsorption of PFOA at the air-water interface during transport in unsaturated porous media.
Environ Sci Technol
52(14)
:
7745-7753
.
DOI:10.1021/acs.est.8b02348