Landry, Kelly

Kelly is a scientist/project engineer at Hazen and Sawyer and her work is focused on water reuse and wastewater process studies, design, and Envision assessments for providing holistic sustainability evaluations of wastewater treatment projects. Prior to joining Hazen, Kelly received her Bachelors and Doctorate at the University of Florida in Environmental Engineering.

Titles from this speaker

A Multi-Pronged Approach for Managing PFAS in Water Resource Reclamation Facilities

Abstract

Developing a comprehensive strategy for managing PFAS requires an understanding of sources of PFAS, behavior of PFAS within drinking water and conventional WRRFs unit processes and availability of treatment technologies that can provide terminal treatment. This work will provide insights into how drinking water facilities and WRRFs are utilizing a combination of source control, and terminal liquids and biosolids treatment technologies to address PFAS.At Utility A, a comprehensive evaluation of PFAS sources is being completed at a WRRF. This work included developing a contribution analysis to identify and rank potential PFAS contributors in the collection system. An extensive sampling event is currently underway. A combination of TOF, non-targeted, and targeted analysis will be used to quantify the masses of PFAS from dischargers. At Utility B, a water treatment facility utilizing conventional treatment with MIEX was monitored for PFAS removal performance. This case study demonstrates the effectiveness of reducing PFOA and PFOS in finished water using GAC, however further assessment is needed to determine the removal efficiencies for short chain PFAS as well as efficacy in treating WRRF secondary effluent to assess potential long-term goals. At Utility C, an ongoing project is identifying sources of PFAS to the WRRF, short-term mitigation and long-term strategies for managing PFAS in the produced biosolids. In the long-term, emerging technologies like gasification, pyrolysis, hydrothermal liquefaction, super critical water oxidation show the most promise to reduce or virtually eliminate PFAS concentrations in biosolids.

SpeakerLandry, Kelly

Presentation time

13:30:00

13:45:00

Session time

13:30:00

15:00:00

SessionPFAS 101: Intro to the Forever Chemicals

Session number102

TopicBiosolids and Residuals, Disinfection and Public Health, Fundamental Level, Microconstituents

Author(s)

Kelly Landry

Author(s)K. Landry1; S. Ishii2; M. Abu-Orf4; E. Rosenfeldt3; W. Khunjar1;

Author affiliation(s)Hazen and Sawyer, Fairfax, VA1Hazen and Sawyer, Tampa, FL2Hazen and Sawyer, Richmond, VA3Hazen and Sawyer, Philadelphia, VA4

SourceProceedings of the Water Environment Federation

Document typeConference Paper

PublisherWater Environment Federation

Print publication date Oct 2021

DOI10.2175/193864718825157990

Volume / Issue

Content sourceWEFTEC

Word count12

Development of a Comprehensive PFAS Source Tracking and WRRF Monitoring Program

Abstract

Introduction
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of more than 5,000 synthetic chemicals containing a fluorinated carbon chain that are used in a variety of industrial and consumer applications. Complex mixtures of PFAS have become ubiquitous environmental contaminants in the influents to WRRFs. Due to the persistence of PFAS through conventional WRRF processes, PFAS can be extensively cycled within the WRRF and be present in the effluent and biosolids. Developing a comprehensive strategy for managing PFAS at WRRFs requires an understanding of several factors (Figure 1), including sources of PFAS and behavior of PFAS within conventional WRRFs unit processes. This work will provide insights into the benefits and drawbacks of several PFAS methodologies by presenting a case study of how one WRRF has developed a comprehensive PFAS monitoring plan to identify major PFAS contributors and fate of PFAS through the WRRF.
Insights on PFAS Monitoring at WRRFs
PFAS, including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), can be present in WRRF influents due to direct discharge from domestic or industrial sources. WRRF influents can also have perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAA) precursor compounds. These PFAA precursor compounds can ultimately breakdown to PFAAs via biological and chemical processes at WRRFs, e.g., activated sludge, anaerobic digestion, thermal treatment. Current methods using LC-MS/MS for quantifying PFAS in wastewater and biosolids matrices are largely focused on PFAAs. PFAA precursors within WRRFs are largely undetected in LC-MS/MS analysis adopted from EPA methods 533 and 537.1 that are routinely used to analyze PFAS concentrations in drinking and ground water, because these methods only target for 29 PFAS. As a result, performing mass balances using data from these LC-MS/MS methods can lead to the incorrect conclusion that PFAS are being produced within WRRFs. Instead, it is likely that non-quantified precursor compounds that are not being monitored are being transformed to PFAAs, which are then detected (quantified) in the WRRF effluent or biosolids. This phenomenon can explain why effluent or biosolids PFAA concentrations can be higher than influent concentrations. Monitoring for PFAS in WRRFs needs a multi-pronged approach for data generation (Figure 2). Utilizing a combination of non-targeted and targeted LC-MS/MS analyses can allow for identification and quantification of key PFAS compounds unique to the system. Total organo-fluorine (TOF), which can be obtained using 19F-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (19F-NMR) spectroscopy or combustion ion chromatography, should be used to complete mass balances and demonstrate that WRRFs are not generators of PFAS.
A Case Study on PFAS Fate and Source Tracking
Utility A is a 12 mgd facility that employs primary treatment and biological nutrient removal for liquids treatment. Solids management involves a combination of disposal including stabilization or composting. Targeted PFAS sampling at Utility A has suggested that the effluent concentrations/loads of PFOS and PFOA are substantially higher than raw influent concentrations/loads. In order to address the potential for PFAS at Utility A, a comprehensive evaluation of PFAS sources is being completed. Source tracking of PFAS in collection systems is critical for understanding the major contributors of PFAS to WRRFs. Understanding major sources can help utilities develop pre-treatment strategies to help PFAS load to the WRRF. This work included developing a contribution analysis to identify and rank potential PFAS contributors in the collection system based on potential total load and potential average load to the WRRF. In this evaluation, over 35 potential dischargers were identified in the service area. These potential dischargers were aggregated into sewershed locations for sampling to quantify the masses of PFAS from dischargers to help identify major PFAS contributors. Preliminary TOF results for sewershed monitoring identified three sewershed locations that are major potential major contributors of PFAS to the collection system. Industrial dischargers within the sewersheds include metal coating, electrical, plastic, textile, and paper industries. These preliminary results provide insight into potential source control opportunities to limit PFAS discharge to the WRRF. Further, extensive monitoring at the WRRF was completed to understand the fate of PFAS within the facility. Figure 3 demonstrates the various methodologies that were utilized for monitoring within the WRRF. TOF analyses was used to calculate mass fluxes of organo-fluorine compounds entering and leaving the WRRF and to construct a mass balance around the WRRF. Non-targeted analyses was used to identify the major components of PFAS relevant to the collection system and WRRF. Targeted analyses was performed to quantify specific PFAS at the WRRF.
Preliminary results indicated that landfill leachate and raw influent have the highest 'measurable' PFAS contribution to the WRRF influent. These results suggest that leachate management may significantly reduce the total load of PFAS to the facility. A mass balance of soluble TOF load within the WRRF indicated a higher soluble TOF load in the output of the WRRF compared to the influent, suggesting that organofluorine is desorbing from the particulate fraction into the liquids stream. Further analysis will be completed to determine whether TOF present in the solids fraction is a significant source of PFAS to the WRRF. Additional results will be presented in the final paper. The results of this study provide insight into the practical application of various PFAS methodologies and valuable information gained from employing multiple methods to understand the fate and transformation of PFAS within a WRRF.

Developing a comprehensive strategy for managing PFAS at WRRFs requires an understanding of several factors, including sources of PFAS and behavior of PFAS within conventional WRRFs unit processes. This work provides insights into the benefits and drawbacks of several PFAS monitoring methodologies by presenting a case study of how one WRRF has developed a comprehensive PFAS monitoring plan to identify major PFAS contributors and fate of PFAS through the WRRF.

SpeakerLandry, Kelly

Presentation time

16:00:00

16:15:00

Session time

15:30:00

17:00:00

TopicIntermediate Level, PFAS, Research and Innovation

Author(s)

Landry, Kelly

Author(s)Kelly Landry1;Wendell Khunjar2

Author affiliation(s)Hazen and Sawyer, Fairfax, VA1; Hazen and Sawyer, Fairfax, VA2

SourceProceedings of the Water Environment Federation

Document typeConference Paper

PublisherWater Environment Federation

Print publication date Oct 2022

DOI10.2175/193864718825158709

Volume / Issue

Content sourceWEFTEC

Word count12

Tradeoffs On Improving WRRF Effluent Water Quality With Advanced Analytics

Abstract

Summary: Understanding the synergistic relationship between wastewater treatment and AWT can help inform the design, modification, and operation of these facilities to ensure a more reliable, economic and safe alternative potable water supply. The goal of this work was to utilize advanced analytics to identify the potential linkages between WRRF parameters and AWT performance. Learning Objectives: Attendees will understand the WRRF parameters that appear to influence AWT performance. Attendees will also gain insight into the benefits of advanced analytics.
Introduction: Traditionally, a water resource reclamation facility's (WRRF) main focus is to meet effluent discharge requirements. For utilities considering implementation of advanced water treatment (AWT) for potable reuse, understanding the synergistic relationship between wastewater treatment-both liquid and solid streams-and AWT can help inform the design, modification, and operation of these facilities to meet the water quality requirements necessary to ensure the safe reuse of water as reliably and efficiently as possible This work was performed as part of the larger collaborative project WRF 4833. The key goal of this portion of the project was to document how performance at a WRRF can impact AWT processes and demonstrate the synergistic relationship between WRRF and AWT through the presentation of multiple case studies. These impacts may be process specific, related to operation and maintenance (O&M), water quality impacts that increase health risks (either acute or chronic) or impact treatability (health/treatability), or a combination of O&M and health/treatability impacts. Identifying the cause and effects of WRRF on AWT performance is intended to help address the challenges often encountered when implementing advanced treatment including: - Significant diversity in the process configurations and operating strategies employed at WRRFs. - Treatment goals at WRRFs that are sufficiently distinct from AWT goals. - Conventional monitoring at WRRFs can be insufficient to quantify impacts on AWT. - Intrinsic variability in wastewater influent, environmental conditions, and biological processes can prevent elucidation of cause and effect at the AWT.
Methods: Five utilities across the United States with varying treatment configurations were selected for the analysis, the treatment configurations are summarized in Table 1. Multi-linear regression analysis in PythonTM and supervised learning in BayesiaLab was performed to identify the potential linkages between WRRF parameters and AWT performance.
Results: Multi-linear regression analysis and supervised learning were able to develop predictive relationships between WRRF parameters and AWT performance with varying accuracy (0.5 < R2 < 0.98), example predictive plots are shown in Figure 1. The results of the advanced analytics evaluation identified several key WRRF parameters that appear to influence AWT performance. In general, the analysis demonstrated the following: - GAC effluent TKN is influenced by primary clarifier surface overflow rate, number of clarifiers in service, and digester hydraulic retention time - GAC effluent TP is influenced by primary clarifier SOR, number of clarifiers in service, and alum use - GAC effluent COD is influenced by primary solids flow and bioreactor dissolved oxygen (DO) - Microfiltration flux is influenced by solids retention time and clarifier scum flow - Microfiltration transmembrane pressure is influenced by TSS load, BOD removal, and COD removal - Reverse osmosis flux is influenced by MLSS, sludge volume index, and solids retention time - Reverse osmosis recovery is influenced by clarifier scum flow, WAS flow and yield, TSS removal, and solids production Additional work is needed to further understand the explanatory nature of the data. Machine learning tools such as unsupervised learning and semi-supervised learning may help to identify clusters of WRRF parameters that influence AWT performance and improve the ability to detect anomalies in treatment performance. Nevertheless, the results of this study provide a preliminary understanding of the interrelationship among WRRF parameters and key AWT performance.

This work involved the application of advanced analytics to operational data from five municipalities to identify the wastewater operation and water quality parameters that relate to downstream advanced water treatment performance, thus informing critical control and monitoring points that support an optimized integrated system.

SpeakerLandry, Kelly

Presentation time

14:30:00

14:55:00

Session time

13:30:00

15:00:00

TopicFundamental Level, Facility Operations and Maintenance, Municipal Wastewater Treatment Design, Potable Reuse, Water Reuse and Reclamation

Author(s)

Landry, Kelly

Author(s)Kelly Landry1; Wendell Khunjar2; Troy Walker3; Javad Roostaei4; Katya Bilyk5; Eva Steinle-Darling6

Author affiliation(s)Hazen and Sawyer, Fairfax, VA1; Hazen & Sawyer Fairfax, VA2; Hazen and Sawyer, Tempe, AZ3; Hazen and Sawyer, Raleigh, NC4; Hazen and Sawyer, Raleigh, NC5; Carollo Engineers, Austin, TX6

SourceProceedings of the Water Environment Federation

Document typeConference Paper

PublisherWater Environment Federation

Print publication date Oct 2022

DOI10.2175/193864718825158667

Volume / Issue

Content sourceWEFTEC

Word count11