Simulating the Fate of Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS) in Environmental Multimedia of Dalian Area

Key words: 
• PFOS /
• three-degree fugacity model /
• environmental phase /
• transfer and fate /
• Dalian

Abstract: Clarifying the fate of pollutants is of great significance for their pollution control and ecological risk assessments. In the present study, a level Ⅲ fugacity model was constructed to investigate the distribution and fate of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) in environmental multimedia of Dalian. The results showed that the simulated concentrations of PFOS in atmosphere, water, soil and sediment were 5.10 pg·m^-3, 22.60 ng·L^-1, 2.25 μg·kg^-1 and 0.34 μg·kg^-1, respectively, which were consistent with the measured values. The main transfer routes of PFOS between media were from atmosphere to soil and from soil to water. Meanwhile, water and soil were identified to be main sinks of PFOS in Dalian area. The primary sources of PFOS in the area were the advection inputs in atmosphere and water, and the advection output of PFOS in atmosphere was the primary outlet from Dalian. Sensitivity analysis showed that the main parameters affecting the model output were the organic carbon partition coefficient, solubility, advection inputs in atmosphere and water, and the runoff velocity of water in soil and temperature. The results of uncertain analysis indicated that the change of the overall parameters had greatest impact on the result in water and least impact on that in sediment. This study simulated the transfer and fate of PFOS in the environmental multimedia of Dalian well, which could provide a scientific basis for its pollution control and ecological risk assessment.