Identification and occurrence of novel cyclic and polymeric perfluoroalkyl ethers (PFECAs) downstream of the fluoropolymer manufacturing plants
Citation:
Valsecchi, S., J. McCord, S. Dagnino, F. Zanon, F. Da Pra, F. Capelli, S. Polesello, AND M. Strynar. Identification and occurrence of novel cyclic and polymeric perfluoroalkyl ethers (PFECAs) downstream of the fluoropolymer manufacturing plants. 2020 SETAC Europe Annual Meeting, Online Meeting, IRELAND, May 03 - 07, 2020.
Impact/Purpose:
Novel PFAS have been discovered in both contemporary water samples and historical data mining exercises in USA and Italian water sources. This abstract reports on the previously described Cl-PFECAs presented by Strynar et al., in 2019 ACS as well as new cyclical PFAS identified by Valasecchi and Strynar in Italian water samples from 2014.
Description:
The ban on perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) led to the production and use of alternative fluorinated compounds used as processing aids in the manufacture of fluoropolymers [1-2]. During the transition, most of the producers developed their own alternatives. Among the well-known replacements used in fluoropolymer manufacture there are HFPO-DA ammonium salt, commercialized by DuPont/Chemours under the tradename of Gen-X, and ADONA from 3M/Dyneon which have already been detected downstream of the effluent discharge from fluorochemical or fluoropolymer manufacturing plants [2,5]. Little information is available on the processing aids currently used by other fluoropolymer producers. Very recent works reviewed the analytical methods for fluoroalkylether substances in environmental samples with a particular focus on the application of high resolution mass spectrometry in the identification of new compounds [3-4]. In this study high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) was used to investigate the occurrence and identity of novel fluorochemicals in the rivers receiving discharge from two Solvay Specialty Polymers fluoropolymer manufactures, located in Italy and the USA.
