Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are a class of chemicals that are of emerging concern. There are 1000s of PFASs with numerous industrial applications due to their thermal and chemical stability, which also contributes to their persistence and bioaccumulative nature. The objective of this work was to improve our understanding of the fate of known and unknown PFASs in manufacturing wastewater. We collected samples from different locations along the flow path of three electronic manufacturing facilities and measured the wastewater samples by means of high resolution mass spectrometry. We quantified the occurrence of 25 target PFASs and simultaneously performed a comprehensive nontarget analysis based on the presence of homologous series. We measured concentrations of the target PFASs ranging from below the limit of detection (0 ng/L) to more than 10 µg/L. We found that the highest concentrations of PFASs were present in the upstream samples from each of the facilities and that the concentrations decreased downstream as wastewater was diluted with onsite wastewater from other sources, whereas the loads actually increased along the flow path. To perform the nontarget screening, we used a datamining software to extract homologous series of CF2, C2F4, CF2O, and C2F4O homologs and tentatively identified 41 unique homologous series among the samples. We have found evidence of a number of perfluoroalkyl ethers, some of which have been previously reported and others that have not yet been reported in literature. We used a semi-quantitative approach to demonstrate that the abundance and loads of untargeted PFASs were higher upstream than downstream along the flow path. This could indicate dilution but could also suggest that transformations of the untargeted compounds are occurring. Our data provide a comprehensive evaluation of PFASs in manufacturing wastewater and provide novel insight into the possible transformation products created during the manufacturing process.

Comprehensive characterization of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in manufacturing wastewater

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.