Perfluorinated Surfactants in Surface, Subsurface Water and Microlayer from Dalian Coastal Waters in China

Abstract

Two predominant perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA), in surface water (SW, 0-20 cm), subsurface water (SSW, > 30 cm depth), and sea surface microlayer (SML, 50 microm thickness) were measured from Dalian Coastal waters in China. The SML samples were collected using glass-plate dipping method. Analysis of the PFCs was conducted through solid-phase extraction, followed by LC/MS-SIM. The PFC's concentrations in SW samples were consistent with previously reported data in this region. Significantly higher concentrations of PFCs were found in SML samples than corresponding SSW samples. The enrichment factors (EF = C(SML)/C(SSW)) for PFOS were as high as 24-109 atthree near-shore sites. The concentration in SW was also generally higher than corresponding SSW samples, giving C(SW)/C(SSW) mean ratios of 1.5 and 1.4 for PFOS and PFOA, respectively. This apparent enrichment of PFCs in surface water, especially in the microlayer, has implications for designing measurement techniques, understanding their distributions, and sea spray-mediated transport in the environment.

Perfluorinated compounds in soils from Liaodong Bay with concentrated fluorine industry parks in China

“…The greatest concentrations of PFCs, such as PFOA and PFOS, which are the terminal degradation products of a range of chemicals containing PFCs, were also observed in the Liaoning region (Wang et al, 2011a,b,c). Other studies have reported concentrations of PFCs within and around this area to be greater than most of other regions of China (Ju et al, 2008;Bao et al, 2009;Li et al, 2011;Sun et al, 2011).…”

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances in the lower atmosphere and surface waters of the Chinese Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, and Yangtze River estuary

“…No point sources of PFASs were discovered along the Yellow Sea coast. Ju et al (2008) and Chen et al (2012) investigated PFOA and PFOS along the Dalian coast. Concentrations of PFOA (0.17 to 95.7 ng/L) were significantly higher than those of PFOS (b0.10 to 2.3 ng/L).…”

A review of sources, multimedia distribution and health risks of perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) in China

“…This result is unexpected since Dalian is a less industrialized city near the coast. Apart from local application of PFAAs, the coastal climate is considered to be a main reason for the relatively high concentrations, including the evolution of regional seabreeze circulation and exchange of PFAAs at air-sea interface (Tong et al, 2005;Ju et al, 2008). Sea-land breeze may cause PFAAs unable to disperse, therefore accumulate within the city, and many PFAAs acting as surfactants may also accumulate on the air/water interface.…”