Neutral polyfluoroalkyl substances in the global Atmosphere

Gawor, Anya; Shunthirasingham, Chubashini; Hayward, Stephen; Lei, Ying Duan; Gouin, Todd; Mmereki, Baagi T.; Masamba, W.R.L.; Ruepert, Clemens; Castillo, Luisa E.; Shoeib, Mahiba; Lee, S. C.; Harner, Tom; Wania, Frank

doi:10.1039/c3em00499f

Cited by 45 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of man-made chemicals that have been used in industrial processes and consumer products, including surfactants, surface-protecting agents, and processing aids to produce polymers. They have been detected ubiquitously in the aquatic environment (Gawor et al, 2014;Rankin, Mabury, Jenkins, & Washington, 2016), biota, and humans (Ahrens & Bundschuh, 2014;Vestergren & Cousins, 2009). Human exposure to PFAS through consuming impacted drinking water is a growing adverse health concern (Emmett et al, 2006;Hurley et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Removing per‐ and polyfluoroalkyl substances from groundwaters using activated carbon and ion exchange resin packed columns

et al. 2020

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Human exposure to per‐ and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water is of growing concern as a result of increasing reports of occurrence and potential regulation. Adsorption of PFAS by granular activated carbon (GAC) or ion exchange (IX) resin is a suitable treatment technique. However, few studies compare PFAS removal in continuous flow GAC or IX adsorption systems using real drinking water sources. In this study, rapid small‐scale column tests (RSSCTs) were used to investigate the effects of PFAS type and chain length on adsorption by GAC and IX resin for six groundwaters used as drinking water supplies. Seven PFAS substances with chain lengths of C4–C9 were detected in the groundwaters with the sum of their concentrations (ΣPFAS) ranging from 156 to 7,044 ng/L. Adsorption capacities (qΣPFAS) were calculated to compare the removal capacity among different sorbents and qΣPFAS values ranged from 10.3 to 228 ng PFAS/mg sorbent after about 100,000 bed volumes treated. Coal‐based GACs had higher adsorption capacity compared with coconutshell‐based GAC, which was likely due to higher mesopore and macropore volumes. IX resins performed better than GAC in removing PFAS, but they were not effective in treating short‐chain perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs). Perfluorosulfonic acids (PFSAs) broke through later than PFCAs with the same chain length. Within PFSA or PFCA classes, shorter‐chain PFAS species always broke through before longer‐chain PFAS. Statistical analysis demonstrated that PFAS with higher hydrophobicity and molecular weight are more amenable to GAC adsorption. Empirical models were developed and predicted PFAS breakthrough. By quantifying PFAS selectivity and removal efficiency, this work provides benchmark data for commercially available treatment technologies and guidance toward specific PFAS classes for which new treatment technologies may be most beneficial.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Removing per‐ and polyfluoroalkyl substances from groundwaters using activated carbon and ion exchange resin packed columns

et al. 2020

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“…There is some indication of declines of N-alkyl perfluorooctane sulfonamides and N-alkyl perfluorooctane sulfonamidoethanols (precursors of both PFSAs and PFCAs) in the global atmosphere, but FTOHs (precursors of PFCAs) appeared to be stable or even to have increased between 2006 and 2012 [83] (see also AMAP, 2016 [153]). FOSA, a PFOS precursor, showed significantly increasing trends in two sediment cores from Canada in two separate studies [70,93], which is consistent with the increasing PFOS trends observed in the same sediment cores.…”

Section: Pfsa and Pfca Precursorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

What is the effect of phasing out long-chain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances on the concentrations of perfluoroalkyl acids and their precursors in the environment? A systematic review

Land¹,

Wit²,

Bignert³

et al. 2018

Environ Evid

162

122

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Background: There is a concern that continued emissions of man-made per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) may cause environmental and human health effects. Now widespread in human populations and in the environment, several PFASs are also present in remote regions of the world, but the environmental transport and fate of PFASs are not well understood. Phasing out the manufacture of some types of PFASs started in 2000 and further regulatory and voluntary actions have followed. The objective of this review is to understand the effects of these actions on global scale PFAS concentrations.Methods: Searches for primary research studies reporting on temporal variations of PFAS concentrations were performed in bibliographic databases, on the internet, through stakeholder contacts and in review bibliographies. No time, document type, language or geographical constraints were applied in the searches. Relevant subjects included human and environmental samples. Two authors screened all retrieved articles. Dual screening of 10% of the articles was performed at title/abstract and full-text levels by all authors. Kappa tests were used to test consistency. Relevant articles were critically appraised by four reviewers, with double checking of 20% of the articles by a second reviewer. Meta-analysis of included temporal trends was considered but judged to not be appropriate. The trends were therefore discussed in a narrative synthesis.

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“…The levels of FOSEs and FOSAs have decreased over the 2006-2011 period but emissions related to 8:2 and 10:2 FTOHs, after a slight decrease, have increased again [42].…”

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confidence: 99%