Detection of Perfluorooctane Surfactants in Great Lakes Water

Abstract

Widespread use of perfluorooctane surfactants has led to ubiquitous presence of these chemicals in biological tissues. While perfluorooctane surfactants have been measured in blood and liver tissue samples of fish, birds, and mammals in the Great Lakes region, data for the aqueous concentrations of these compounds in the Great Lakes or other ambient waters is lacking. Sixteen Great Lakes water samples were analyzed for eight perfluorooctane surfactants. The monitored perfluorooctane surfactants were quantitatively determined using single quadrupole HPLC/MS and qualitatively confirmed using ion trap MS/MS. Additionally, PFOS was quantitatively confirmed using triple quadrupole LC/MS/MS. Concentrations of PFOS and PFOA in the two lakes ranged from 21-70 and 27-50 ng/L, respectively. Analysis also showed the presence of PFOS precursors, N-EtFOSAA (range of 4.2-11 ng/L) and FOSA (range of 0.6-1.3 ng/L), in all samples above the LOQ. PFOSulfinate, another precursor, was identified at six of eight locations with a concentration range, when present, of <2.2-17 ng/L. Other PFOS precursors, N-EtFOSE, PFOSAA, and N-EtFOSA were not observed at any of the sampling locations. These are the first reported concentrations of perfluorooctane surfactants in Great Lakes water and the first report of PFOS precursors in any water body.

Sediment–water distribution of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) in Yangtze River Estuary

“…Samples from BL also had a relatively high concentration of PFOS (144 ng L À1 ). Except the high value at location BZ, the PFOS levels detected for other sampling locations were comparable with values reported in Great Lakes (21-70 ng L À1 ) (Boulanger et al, 2004) and in sixteen Japanese rivers (0.2-157 ng L À1 ) (Saito et al, 2003). The PFOS values investigated in this study were much greater than that detected in Huangpu River (0.62-14 ng g À1 ) (So et al, 2007).…”

A review of sources, multimedia distribution and health risks of perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) in China

“…Most PFAAs in China are found at the moderate levels compared with those in other countries or regions such as the USA, Canada, Japan and Europe. In general, higher concentrations of PFAAs were detected in mainstreams or tributaries of the Pearl, Yangtze and Haihe Rivers, and the East, Tangxun and Taihu Lakes in China, which were comparable with those in 18 rivers throughout whole Japan (PFOA: 0.76-192 ng L À1 ; PFOS: nd-191 ng L À1 ) (Murakami et al, 2008), and the Great Lakes in North America (PFOA: 27-50 ng L À1 ; PFOS: 21-70 ng L À1 ) (Boulanger et al, 2004), while lower concentrations of PFAAs in the studied rivers or lakes in China were similar to those in European rivers, such as the River Elbe in Germany (PFOA: 2.8-9.6 ng L À1 ; PFOS: 0.5-2.9 ng L À1 ) (Ahrens et al, 2009), the River Seine in France (PFOA: 1.1-18.0 ng L À1 ; PFOS: 9.9-39.7 ng L À1 ) (Labadie and Chevreuil, 2011), and the River Rhine (PFOA: 0.61-41.4 ng L À1 ; PFOS: 0.89-18.6 ng L À1 ) (Moeller et al, 2010). PFAAs in surface water from some sites contaminated by fluorine chemical plants, mainly including East and Tangxun Lakes in Wuhan (Zhou et al, 2013) and Daling River in Fuxin (Bao et al, 2011), were less than those from a cove into which 3 M plant waste water was directly discharged (PFOA: 3,600 ng L À1 ; PFOS: 18 200 ng L À1 ) (Oliaei et al, 2013).…”

Contamination profiles of perfluoroalkyl substances in five typical rivers of the Pearl River Delta region, South China

“…Thus PFASs are found almost ubiquitously in various environmental media including air (Shoeib et al, 2006;Li et al, 2011b), water (Hansen et al, 2002;Boulanger et al, 2004), sediment Benskin et al, 2011), and biota (Giesy and Kannan, 2001;Tao et al, 2006), as well as humans (Kannan et al, 2004;Toms et al, 2009). Contamination of surface water by PFASs could impact water quality of drinking water sources, thus threating human health.…”