PFAS transport through landfill clay liners enhanced with proteins.

Project Member(s): Turner, B., Khabbaz, M., Tan, J.

Funding or Partner Organisation: Australian Research Council (ARC Discovery Indigenous)
Australian Research Council (ARC Discovery Indigenous)

Start year: 2024

Summary: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are a group of environmentally persistent, man-made chemicals found likely to be carcinogenic in humans by the USEPA Science Advisory Board. Due to their non-stick, water and stain repellences, PFASs have long been used in everyday products (food wrappers, carpets, furniture etc) which end up in landfills. As it is currently unknown how PFASs move through landfill barriers, PFAS contamination has become a priority for the regulators of Australia’s landfill sites according to the Australian 2018 PFAS National Environmental Management Plan. This research will determine PFAS transport through common clay barriers enhanced with proteins which have been shown to be an excellent sorbent for PFAS.

FOR Codes: Fresh, ground and surface water systems and management not elsewhere classified, Water and waste services not elsewhere classified, Pollution and contamination not elsewhere classified , Global and planetary environmental engineering, Civil geotechnical engineering

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.