Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2023_NE_Li

Release, Adsorption, and Biotransformation of Biosolid-Borne PFAS at the Water-Sediment Interface in Agricultural Watersheds

Institute: Nebraska
USGS Grant Number:
Year Established: 2023 Start Date: 2024-01-01 End Date: 2026-12-31
Total Federal Funds: $278,969 Total Non-Federal Funds: $279,377

Principal Investigators: Xu Li

Project Summary: The land application of biosolids from municipal wastewater treatment plants introduces PFAS compounds to agricultural watersheds. While the PFAS-laden biosolids can pollute surface water bodies via agricultural runoff, little is known about the fate and transport of the biosolidborne PFAS and PFAS precursors in the water and in the sediment of the receiving water bodies. The project will improve our molecular-level understanding of the physiochemical and microbial processes on the biosolid-borne PFAS at the water-sediment interface. We will study the release of PFAS from decomposed biosolids and re-adsorption of PFAS to sediment particles, the potential biotransformation of PFAS and PFAS precursors by sediment microbes, and the change in the adsorption properties of PFAS transformation products. The resulting kinetic parameters can help parameterize USGS relative-transport models for surface flows, and the identification of biotransformation products can add valuable information to the USGS database for prio itized PFAS compounds.