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Characterizing Residuals in New and Aged Fluorotelomer Polymers in Soil
Citation:
Naile, J., T. Jenkins, AND J. Washington. Characterizing Residuals in New and Aged Fluorotelomer Polymers in Soil. Presented at 34th Annual SETAC North America, Nashville, TN, November 17 - 21, 2013.
Impact/Purpose:
Poster presented at SETAC North America 34th in Nashville, TN (Nov 17-21, 2013)
Description:
Fluorotelomer polymers (FTPs) comprise some of the major products of the fluorotelomer industry. FTPs impart anti-wetting and anti-staining properties which are invaluable to wide range of consumer products including clothing, upholstery, food packaging, and carpeting. FTPs retain monomer fluorotelomer residuals including fluorotelomer alcohols (FTOHs), which are known to degrade to perfluorocompounds (PFCs), such as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). PFOA and other PFCs have been shown to be recalcitrant in the environment, bio-accumulative, and toxic. Because of the residual monomer content of FTPs, and because FTPs have been shown to degrade to form fluorotelomer monomers, FTPs constitute a source of PFCs to the environment and, consequently, there is a need to characterize the species and concentrations of fluorotelomer and perfluoro-compounds in new and aged FTPs. Methods were developed and rigorously tested to ensure sufficient extraction and cleanup for gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and liquid chromatography tandem-mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) analyses. To evaluate possible FTP degradation, we incubated a commercially available FTP in soil microcosms and monitored the microcosms for fluorotelomer and PFC degradation products using GC/MS and LC/MS/MS. Preliminary data suggests that aged microcosms accumulated more fluorotelomer and PFCs over time than were present in the original un-aged polymer.
