THE PROJECT
LIFE CAPTURE AIMS TO EXAMINE THE CHARACTERISTICS AND BEHAVIOUR OF PFAS CONTAMINANTS AND INTENDS TO FIND INNOVATIVE REMEDIATION SOLUTIONS FOR PFAS-CONTAMINATED SOIL AND GROUNDWATER.
The overarching objective is to develop sustainable management methods for dealing with PFAS contamination in soil and groundwater.
Due to the lack of a straightforward methodology for the PFAS analysis, LIFE CAPTURE wants to develop a robust protocol for the analysis of PFAS. The intention is to enlarge the spectrum of the PFAS family that can be identified and analysed. LIFE CAPTURE proposes to develop a robust protocol that will follow a staggered approach to firstly quantify whether or not any kind of PFAS is present in significant (potentially harmful) concentrations; secondly quantify the concentrations of a set group of the most well researched PFAS; thirdly determine if there are significant concentrations of other PFAS present and finally quantify the amount of those other PFAS and qualify them. This will address objective 1: the development of a robust analytical protocol.
During site investigation it is currently considered best practice to only look at concentrations at discrete locations at one specific point in time. The use of flux-measurements would be a valuable addition, allowing more direct measurement of exposure and better assessment of time-average risks. Rather than estimating the mass transport of a PFAS contamination to downstream receptors, the actual mass flux is measured. Not only does this allow for more accurate risk assessment, but it can also be used to drastically enhance the efficiency of mitigation measures such as remediation. Within this project, passive flux samplers that can be integrated in the new analytical protocol will be demonstrated. The flux measurements address objective 2: Development of methods to monitor the transport of PFAS from soil, through groundwater, to receptors.
In addition, due to PFAS’s chemical properties, most existing remediation technologies don’t provide adequate sustainable treatment solutions. In this regard, LIFE CAPTURE proposes a toolkit of promising innovative remediation technologies for PFAS. The proposed technologies have been developed and validated in laboratory conditions. Therefore, thanks to the promising results, they are now ready to be implemented into pilot tests under field conditions. Technology trains will be identified and tested to optimize the remediation approaches in order to eliminate the contaminants from the environment (>98% removal efficiency).These important topics correspond with objective 3.
The assessment whether a certain PFAS-contamination is harmful or not is typically governed by a regional regulatory framework. Within this project we propose to develop a pragmatic risk and effect assessment approach. This will be based on existing standardised bioassays (ecotoxicity tests), to make sure the approach can be easily implemented and is economically feasible. Special attention will be given to risk assessment for mixtures of different known or unknown PFAS and methods for assessing risk reductions achieved by remediation. This corresponds with objective 4: Effect and hazard assessment.
