Unveiling the hidden threat: spatiotemporal trends and source apportionments of per-and polyfluorinated alkyl substances in wastewater treatment plants in South Africa

Moloko Florence Morethe; Lizzy Mpenyana-Monyatsi; Adegbenro Peter Daso; Okechukwu Jonathan Okonkwo

doi:10.2166/wst.2023.401

Unveiling the hidden threat: spatiotemporal trends and source apportionments of per-and polyfluorinated alkyl substances in wastewater treatment plants in South Africa

Moloko Florence Morethe, Lizzy Mpenyana-Monyatsi, Adegbenro Peter Daso, Okechukwu Jonathan Okonkwo

Centre for Sustainable Chemical Technologies (CSCT)

Tshwane University of Technology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

4 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

At least 11 per-and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFASs) were more prevalent during the dry season, whereas only PFBA, L-PFBS, L-PFOS, and PFOA were prevalent during the wet season in 11 WWTPs. The ∑21 PFAS levels in the influent and the effluent ranged from 137 to 3327 ng/L and 265-7,699 ng/L in the dry season and 61-2,953 ng/L and 171-3,458 ng/L in the wet season, respectively. The highest mean concentrations were observed in the influent and effluent for PFOA (586 ng/L) and L-PFBS (552 ng/L); and FOET (1,399 ng/L) and PFNA (811 ng/L) during dry and wet seasons, respectively. During the wet season, 6:2 FTS was observed at the highest concentrations, exhibiting 4,900 ng/L (66%) and 2,351 ng/L (39%), 1,950 ng/L (53%) in SST and BNR, respectively. Principal component analysis (PCA), hierarchical clustering (HCA), and PFHpA/PFOA, PFBA/PFOA, and PFNA/PFOA ratios revealed mixtures of PFAS sources into WWTPs.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	71-88
Number of pages	18
Journal	Water science and technology : a journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research
Volume	89
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2023.401
Publication status	Published - 1 Jan 2024

Funding

This work was funded by the Water Research Commission of South Africa (WRC Project No: C2019/2020-00187) and by bursary support from the Innovation (RDI) Roadmap Implementation Unit. The authors are indebted to the Water Research Commission of South Africa for financing this project (WRC Project No: C2019/2020-00187); The Water Research, Development, and Innovation (RDI) Roadmap Implementation Unit for the post-graduate bursary awarded to Miss MF Morethe for her MSc programme in Water Technology; and to Tshwane University of Technology for providing the enabling environment to conduct this study.

Funders	Funder number
Water Research Commission of South Africa	C2019/2020-00187
Race and Difference Initiative, Emory University
Water Research Commission
Tshwane University of Technology

Keywords

PFASs
South Africa
source apportionment
spatiotemporal
wastewater treatment plants

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Environmental Engineering
Water Science and Technology

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10.2166/wst.2023.401Licence: CC BY

Cite this

Morethe, M. F., Mpenyana-Monyatsi, L., Daso, A. P., & Okonkwo, O. J. (2024). Unveiling the hidden threat: spatiotemporal trends and source apportionments of per-and polyfluorinated alkyl substances in wastewater treatment plants in South Africa. Water science and technology : a journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research, 89(1), 71-88. https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2023.401

Unveiling the hidden threat: spatiotemporal trends and source apportionments of per-and polyfluorinated alkyl substances in wastewater treatment plants in South Africa. / Morethe, Moloko Florence; Mpenyana-Monyatsi, Lizzy; Daso, Adegbenro Peter et al.
In: Water science and technology : a journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research, Vol. 89, No. 1, 01.01.2024, p. 71-88.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Morethe, MF, Mpenyana-Monyatsi, L, Daso, AP & Okonkwo, OJ 2024, 'Unveiling the hidden threat: spatiotemporal trends and source apportionments of per-and polyfluorinated alkyl substances in wastewater treatment plants in South Africa', Water science and technology : a journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research, vol. 89, no. 1, pp. 71-88. https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2023.401

Morethe MF, Mpenyana-Monyatsi L, Daso AP, Okonkwo OJ. Unveiling the hidden threat: spatiotemporal trends and source apportionments of per-and polyfluorinated alkyl substances in wastewater treatment plants in South Africa. Water science and technology : a journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research. 2024 Jan 1;89(1):71-88. doi: 10.2166/wst.2023.401

Morethe, Moloko Florence ; Mpenyana-Monyatsi, Lizzy ; Daso, Adegbenro Peter et al. / Unveiling the hidden threat : spatiotemporal trends and source apportionments of per-and polyfluorinated alkyl substances in wastewater treatment plants in South Africa. In: Water science and technology : a journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research. 2024 ; Vol. 89, No. 1. pp. 71-88.

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Unveiling the hidden threat: spatiotemporal trends and source apportionments of per-and polyfluorinated alkyl substances in wastewater treatment plants in South Africa

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