Fluorochemical mass flows in a municipal wastewater treatment facility

Fluorochemicals have widespread applications and are released into municipal wastewater treatment plants via domestic wastewater. A field study was conducted at a full-scale municipal wastewater treatment plant to determine the mass flows of selected fluorochemicals. Flow-proportional, 24 h samples of raw influent, primary effluent, trickling filter effluent, secondary effluent, and final effluent and grab samples of primary, thickened, activated, and anaerobically digested sludge were collected over 10 days and analyzed by liquid chromatography electrospray-ionization tandem mass spectrometry. Significant decreases in the mass flows of perfluorohexane sulfonate and perfluorodecanoate occurred during trickling filtration and primary clarification, while activated sludge treatment decreased the mass flow of perfluorohexanoate. Mass flows of the 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonate and perfluorooctanoate were unchanged as a result of wastewater treatment, which indicates that conventional wastewater treatment is not effective for removal of these compounds. A net increase in the mass flows for perfluorooctane and perfluorodecane sulfonates occurred from trickling filtration and activated sludge treatment. Mass flows for perfluoroalkylsulfonamides and perfluorononanoate also increased during activated sludge treatment and are attributed to degradation of precursor molecules.