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Development of a High-throughput Targeted Analysis Method for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) in Drinking Water
Citation:
Miller, K., J. McCord, C. Fuller, M. Strynar, AND M. Medina-Vera. Development of a High-throughput Targeted Analysis Method for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) in Drinking Water. 2020 SETAC North America Annual Meeting, Virtual, November 15 - 19, 2020.
Impact/Purpose:
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are emerging contaminants that are present ubiquitously around the world. Many new PFASs are being manufactured as an alternative to legacy PFASs, which makes monitoring the environment for these chemicals difficult when there is a broad range of PFAS classes. This presentation will address developing a high-throughput method for targeted analysis of PFAS in drinking water. This research will discuss an optimized workflow using online solid phase extraction, which will be compared to the traditional offline approach. By using online solid phase extraction, sample preparation time will be significantly decreased. A high-throughput method is important for monitoring the many emerging PFAS contaminants in the environment. This work will help other environmental researchers who want an automated (i.e., quicker) way to assess PFAS concentrations in drinking water.
Description:
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are emerging contaminants widely used in a variety of industrial and consumer applications (e.g., fire-fighting foams, cosmetics, food wrappers, household products, etc.). These man-made chemicals persist ubiquitously in various environmental media and have been detected in drinking water at trace concentrations. In 2016 U.S. EPA established health advisory levels for lifetime exposure from drinking water for two PFAS legacy compounds, perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), at 70 ng/L. EPA’s Third Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR3) analyzed for 6 PFASs and reported PFOS and PFOA concentrations over 70 ng/L in 1.3% of U.S. public water systems tested. Many types of PFASs exist and with the manufacturing of novel PFAS alternatives to legacy PFASs, a high-throughput method is needed for monitoring these many contaminants. This study addresses the need for high-throughput targeted methods that analyze for multiple PFAS classes in drinking water. In this research, EPA developed a targeted analytical method to analyze 16 PFASs in these drinking water samples. Method development included creating a new workflow that utilized online solid phase extraction (SPE) performed by a CTC PAL autosampler. This new approach was compared to the previous offline SPE workflow in terms of reproducibility, limits of detection, and recovery efficiencies. Ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS) was used to detect and quantify 9 perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs) and 7 perfluoroalkanesulfonic acids (PFSAs). Some examples are target analytes included PFOA, perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA), perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA), PFOS, perfluoroheptanesulfonic acid (PFHpS), and perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS). A high-throughput targeted analysis method for detecting PFASs in drinking water will help researchers better monitor these emerging contaminants.
