RESEARCH PROJECT
Sorption of perfluoroalkylated substances (PFASs) in soils – mechanisms and modelling
Updated: February 2026
Project overview
Project start:
January 2016
Ending:
December 2019
Project manager:
Jon-Petter Gustafsson
Funded by:
VR
Participants
Research groups:
More related research
Short summary
The main purpose of this project was to gain substantially improved knowledge on the molecular-scale interactions between perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and soil components.
The purpose was also to use this knowledge to develop a general geochemical model with the capacity to predict the partitioning and speciation of PFASs in soils of diverse properties.
The project aimed to test the following five hypotheses:
- The PFASs are bound to soils primarily by hydrophobic interactions with organic matter, although electrostatic interactions and surface complexation, involving also Fe and Al (hydr)oxides, are important in mineral soils at low pH.
- The binding of PFASs to organic matter can be predicted from the net charge of the organic matter (i.e. the lower net charge, the stronger the PFAS binding).
- The interaction between PFAS and metal (hydr)oxide surfaces involves mainly electrostatic contributions and can be predicted by use of surface complexation modelling from pH and from interactions with major inorganic ions.
- The sorption of PFASs is proportional to the chain length of each PFAS class.
- The developed geochemical model can predict the sorption of PFASs in soils by combining descriptions of electrostatic interactions / surface complexation and hydrophobic interactions in a single model framework.
The project constituted the core of a PhD thesis (Campos de Pereira, graduated in 2021).