Evaluation of Fluorochemical Leaching from Lithium-Ion Batteries Under Simulated Solid Waste Landfill Conditions.
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2025-12
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Lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) are widely used in electronic devices and renewable energy systems. Fluorochemicals are essential components of LiBs, as a component of electrolytes, electrodes, and coatings. However, there are concerns about the environmental release of fluorochemicals, especially within landfills after disposal, due to the fact that landfill leachate is typically treated in facilities not designed to attenuate fluorochemicals. We have evaluated the occurrence of fluorochemical compounds in commercial LiBs and fluoropolymer binders and the release of LiB-derived fluorochemicals in simulated municipal solid waste (MSW) leaching experiments. Our survey of 19 LiBs found per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) including bis(perfluoroalkyl)sulfonimide (bis-FASI, up to 36 mg) and inorganic fluorochemicals such as hexafluorophosphate (PF6-, up to 1.4 g) and bis(fluorosulfinyl)imide (bis-FSI, up to 250 mg). PFAS were also measured in fluoropolymer binders in the range of 2-2000 ng/g. Nontargeted analysis resulted in detection of diverse fluorinated sulfonimides and organic phosphofluoridates in batteries as well as 6 novel PFAS in fluoropolymer binders. Analysis of MSW landfill leachates indicated the presence of LiB-derived fluorochemicals up to 76 μg/L. Simulated MSW leaching experiments showed that LiBs released PFAS (up to 100 mg/L) and inorganic fluorochemicals (up to 1.4 g/L) into the landfill leachate over a period of 220 days. Furthermore, PF6- and bis-FSI transformed in landfill leachate to form organic phosphofluoridates and novel amino sulfonyl fluorosulfanomides. This is the first report of PFAS and fluorochemical release from LiBs and transformation under landfill leaching conditions.
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Shojaei, Marzieh, Jennifer L Guelfo, Morton A Barlaz, Grisel Cogollo-Carcamo, Nelson A Rivera, Heileen Hsu-Kim and P Lee Ferguson (2025). Evaluation of Fluorochemical Leaching from Lithium-Ion Batteries Under Simulated Solid Waste Landfill Conditions. Environmental science & technology, 59(49). pp. 26750–26761. 10.1021/acs.est.5c10116 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/34296.
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Heileen Hsu-Kim
Professor Heileen (Helen) Hsu-Kim is an environmental engineer who specializes in environmental aquatic chemistry and geochemistry. Her research tackles problems related to pollutant metals and the biogeochemical processes that alter their distribution in the natural and built environment. Her work strives to establish and use principles of geochemical speciation for understanding and predicting the persistence, mobility and bioavailability of metals and minerals in the environment and potential hazards to exposed populations. Her team uses these same approaches to study the extraction of metals from waste materials for valorization technologies.
Examples of ongoing research includes studies on toxins such as mercury, lead, arsenic and selenium in ecosystems and the built environment. She seeks to understand the risks of exposures to humans and biota while also identify pathways to reduce negative impacts caused by such exposures. Dr. Hsu-Kim also evaluates unconventional resources for critical metals such as rare earth elements and studies technologies for their extraction and production.
Her research employs multiple geochemical methods for element speciation and interfacial analysis, including mass spectrometry and X-ray spectroscopy. She develops functional measures of reactivity and bioavailability of contaminant metals, and techniques to probe interactions at solid, liquid and microbial interfaces.
P. Lee Ferguson
Dr. Ferguson is an Environmental Analytical Chemist who joined Duke in 2009 after six years as an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at the University of South Carolina.
Research in the Ferguson laboratory is focused on development and application of analytical methods for measuring organic pollutants in the environment. Specifically, a major thrust of research in the lab involves the application of high resolution mass spectrometry to detect, identify, and quantify emerging contaminants in wastewater and drinking water. His recent work has centered on the development of non-targeted analysis workflows and methods, assessment of polyfluorinated alkyl substances in water and wastewater, and leaching and bioaccessibility of polymer-associated chemicals from microplastic particles in the aquatic environment. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed chapters and journal articles, serves on advisory councils for several organizations focused on emerging pollutants in the environment, and has testified before the U.S. Senate on environmental health concerns related to nanotechnology. In North Carolina, he helped lead the formation of the NC PFAS Testing Network to assess statewide drinking water contamination from PFAS chemicals.
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