ESE-faculty-list Elijah Openiyi PhD Defense 6/16/2025 11am

[Ledman, Amy L]

Below and attached you will find the information regarding Elijah Openiyi's dissertation defense on June 16th!

Elijah Openiyi - PhD Defense
Mitigation of PFAS in Agricultural Fields Using Sorbent Materials

Major Professor: Dr. Linda S Lee
Monday, June 16th at 11:00 AM | Lily 2-425 and Zoom<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpurdue-edu.zoom.us%2Fj%2F91394713971&data=05%7C02%7Cese-faculty-list%40ecn.purdue.edu%7Ce275492dfc8b4e283b9b08dda47e29b7%7C4130bd397c53419cb1e58758d6d63f21%7C0%7C0%7C638847584267144065%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=FIGRzRq19QNcpQloMoeAEavWJoUkfrawJsuNdYrCrW4%3D&reserved=0>

Ecological Sciences and Engineering Interdisciplinary Graduate Program

Department of Agronomy



Abstract: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a special class of man-made chemicals that are ubiquitous, recalcitrant, and toxic. PFAS get into agricultural soil primarily through wet/dry deposition, irrigation with PFAS-contaminated water, and land application of biosolids. While biosolids are a great source of slow-release nutrients that plants love, the tendency for the bioaccumulation and biomagnification along the food chain of PFAS raises a concern for the sustainable land application of biosolids and continued operation of farms with soils that are already contaminated with PFAS. In this study, we employed immobilization strategies via a series of batch sorption experiments, a column study, a greenhouse study, and a field study by using four sorbent materials (pyrolyzed biosolids, ACH-WTR, wood-ash and wood-biochar) for the mitigation of PFAS in PFAS contaminated agricultural soils and land applied biosolids.
Overall results showed that that sorption of perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs), including PFHxS and PFOS, increased with increasing ACH-WTR concentrations in batch sorption experiments. In a six-month long column study, leachates from ACH-WTR-amended columns contained 32% less total PFAS compared to those from biosolids-only control columns, with PFOS mobility specifically reduced by 68%. Likewise, amending PFAS-contaminated soils with 6 wt% wood-ash decreased total PFAS uptake in grass leaves by 83% and significantly enhanced plant growth in the 1-year long, multiple harvest greenhouse study. Correspondingly, soil-to-plant translocation factors (TFs) were significantly lower (P < 0.01) in the 3 wt% and 6 wt% wood-ash treatments than in the control for most PFAS. First-year field results indicate that both wood-ash and wood-biochar amendments can reduce PFAS uptake into grass leaves, with wood-ash exhibiting greater effectiveness. However, interpretation of the field-scale efficacy will require data from the second-year harvest, as PFAS uptake by plants is influenced by both initial contaminant concentrations and the duration of root-zone exposure.

Amy Ledman
She/Her/Hers

Lead Graduate Program Specialist Ecological Sciences and Engineering
Office of Interdisciplinary Graduate Programs

Ernest C. Young Hall, Rm B84
155 S. Grant St.
West Lafayette, IN 47907
o: 765-494-5865   f: 765-496-6271

Schedule a meeting: calendly.com/aledman<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalendly.com%2Faledman&data=05%7C02%7Cese-faculty-list%40ecn.purdue.edu%7Ce275492dfc8b4e283b9b08dda47e29b7%7C4130bd397c53419cb1e58758d6d63f21%7C0%7C0%7C638847584267162829%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=%2F7qDK8jbrDIf8L6gwSNIB219VgTmXvyjno6n7Yh6%2Fg8%3D&reserved=0>
[cid:image001.png at 01DBD645.7E9A23C0]<https://www.purdue.edu/?utm_source=signature&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=purdue>



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: </ECN/mailman/archives/ese-faculty-list/attachments/20250605/83f93b3d/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 20154 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: </ECN/mailman/archives/ese-faculty-list/attachments/20250605/83f93b3d/attachment-0001.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Elijah Openiyi ESE Defense Announcement.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 312837 bytes
Desc: Elijah Openiyi ESE Defense Announcement.pdf
URL: </ECN/mailman/archives/ese-faculty-list/attachments/20250605/83f93b3d/attachment-0001.pdf>