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. 2025 Nov 25;59(46):24899-24908.
doi: 10.1021/acs.est.5c08763. Epub 2025 Nov 17.

Nationwide Estimate of Volatile Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance (PFAS) Emissions from U.S. Landfills via Landfill Gas

Florentino B De la Cruz  1 , Ivan A Titaley  2 , Yixuan Wang  1 , Jennifer A Field  2 , Morton A Barlaz  1
Affiliations

Nationwide Estimate of Volatile Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance (PFAS) Emissions from U.S. Landfills via Landfill Gas

Florentino B De la Cruz et al. Environ Sci Technol. .

Abstract

Estimates of annual per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) emissions from landfill gas (LFG) using data from a nationwide sampling campaign have not been reported. The objective of this study was to characterize volatile PFAS in LFG and to estimate the annual mass of volatile PFAS released from US landfills. LFG samples were collected from 30 landfills in 17 states represented by different annual precipitation regions. PFAS concentrations varied by orders of magnitude, with a median concentration of 19,000 ng/m3. Fluorotelomer alcohols, 6:2 and 8:2 FTOH, are the dominant PFAS in LFG, accounting for more than 95% of the total PFAS concentration. Minor components such as fluorotelomer olefins (FTOs) are also present, with concentrations ranging from 0-28,000 ng/m3 and a median of 316 ng/m3. The variability in PFAS concentrations was influenced by precipitation, as well as temporal and site-specific factors. By coupling the median concentration of PFAS with an estimate of US LFG emissions, it is estimated that 836 kg/yr of volatile PFAS are emitted from US landfills in uncollected gas with a 95% confidence interval (2.5% to 97.5% of the distribution) of 15-5,590 kg/yr. This estimate is comparable to ∼600 kg of PFAS released annually into landfill leachate.

Keywords: FTOH; TD-GC-MS; emissions; landfill gas; side chain fluoropolymer; thermal desorption; volatile PFAS.

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Figures

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(a) Ranges of SumPFAS in 30 US landfills grouped by precipitation region as defined by the GHGRP. The boxes bound the interquartile range (IQR) (25th to 75th quartile). The whiskers extend to 1.5 times the IQR, and their ends show the highest and lowest value excluding outliers, which are represented by points. (b) Relative composition calculated based on the mean of the sum of minor PFAS groups excluding FTOH, which accounts for the majority of volatile PFAS in LFG with a median value of 98%. Only FTO was consistently detected in all landfills.
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Distribution of SumPFAS across 30 US Landfills: Histogram (bars, 50 bins) with Kernel Density Estimates (smooth lines) by precipitation class (Wet: n = 195, Moderate: n = 48, Arid: n = 48). The y-axis shows relative frequency. SumPFAS was statistically similar between arid and moderate landfills and greater than the concentrations in wet landfills.
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