Issue 6, 2011
From the journal:

Journal of Environmental Monitoring

Effects of salinity and organic matter on the partitioning of perfluoroalkyl acid (PFAs) to clay particles

Junho Jeon,ab   Kurunthachalam Kannan,c   Byung J. Lim,d   Kwang Guk Ane  and  Sang Don Kim*a  

* Corresponding authors

a Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), 1 Oryong-dong, Buk-gu, Gwangju, Korea
E-mail: sdkim@gist.ac.kr
Fax: +82 62 715 2434
Tel: +82 62 715 2445

b Department of Environmental Chemistry, EAWAG, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Ueberlandstrasse 133, Duebendorf, Switzerland
E-mail: junho.jeon@eawag.ch
Fax: +41 44 823 5028
Tel: +41 44 823 5042

c Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, State University of New York at Albany, Empire State Plaza, P. O. Box 509, Albany, New York, USA

d Yeongsan River Environmental Research Laboratory, 1110-8 Oryong-dong, Buk-gu, Gwangju, Korea

e Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Chungnam National University, 220 Gung-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, Korea

Abstract

The influence of salinity and organic matter on the distribution coefficient (Kd) for perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in a brackish water–clay system was studied. The distribution coefficients (Kd) for PFAs onto inorganic clay surfaces increased with salinity, providing evidence for electrostatic interaction for the sorption of PFAs, whereas the relationship between Kd and organic carbon content (foc) suggested that hydrophobic interaction is the primary driving force for the sorption of PFAs onto organic matter. The organic carbon normalized adsorption coefficient (Koc) of PFAs can be slightly overestimated due to the electrostatic interaction within uncoated inorganic surfaces. In addition, the dissolved organic matter released from coated clay particles seemed to solvate PFA molecules in solution, which contributed to a decrease in Kd. A positive relationship between Kd and salinity was apparent, but an empirical relationship for the ‘salting-out’ effect was not evident. The Kd values of PFAs are relatively small compared with those reported for persistent organic pollutants. Thus, sorption may not be a significant route of mass transfer of PFAs from water columns in estuarine environments. However, enhancement of sorption of PFAs to particulate matter at high salinity values could evoke potential risks to benthic organisms in estuarine areas.

Graphical abstract: Effects of salinity and organic matter on the partitioning of perfluoroalkyl acid (PFAs) to clay particles

About
Cited by
Related
Download options Please wait...

Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C0EM00791A
Article type
Paper
Submitted
27 Dec 2010
Accepted
18 Mar 2011
First published
15 Apr 2011

J. Environ. Monit., 2011,13, 1803-1810

Permissions

Request permissions

Effects of salinity and organic matter on the partitioning of perfluoroalkyl acid (PFAs) to clay particles

J. Jeon, K. Kannan, B. J. Lim, K. G. An and S. D. Kim, J. Environ. Monit., 2011, 13, 1803 DOI: 10.1039/C0EM00791A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Spotlight

Advertisements