Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of synthetic compounds that have been ubiquitously used in consumer products and industrial manufacturing processes. Examples include non-stick cookware, food packaging, textiles, cosmetics, batteries, and fire-fighting foams, all useful due to the hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties of PFAS. Through these extensive applications most PFAS ultimately end up in landfills in the US. Because PFAS have extreme persistence, they take years to degrade in the environment, and since most are soluble in water, they leach into ground water, pollute drinking water supplies, and are associated with adverse human health effects in many contaminated areas.<br/><br/>We have developed a rapid screening method for all PFAS using a graphitized activated carbon (GAC) fabric to capture PFAS from water samples. When combined with a measurement of total fluorine by particle-induced gamma-ray emission (PIGE) spectroscopy, this can be a rapid screening tool to quantitatively measure total fluorine in aqueous samples. Since inorganic fluorides are added into some drinking water systems, the total fluorine signal is the sum of inorganic fluorides and organofluorines (such as PFAS) from any real-world water sample. We have developed a methanol rinse method to help remove PFAS from the GAC fabric but leave inorganic fluorides adsorbed on the GAC fabric after the extraction of water samples. In this way, we can determine not only the total fluorine concentration in a water sample, but also the fraction of organofluorine amount from PFAS. Results show that this is a rapid and affordable method to screen people’s residential water samples for the presence of all PFAS at environmentally relevant levels of detection. This screening method could be used to evaluate the relevant efficiency for PFAS treatment processes.

Novel method of screening aqueous samples for PFAS

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ACS Fall 2022

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