EOF and target PFAS analysis in surface waters affected by sewage treatment effluents in Berlin, Germany

Abstract

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are emerging organic pollutants and can occur in surface and groundwater. To identify the degree of pollution in surface water with PFAS, often targeted HPLC–ESI–MS/MS has been employed in which commonly 30–40 compounds are analyzed. However, other PFAS and organofluorines remain undetected. We sampled surface water of the river Spree and the Teltow Canal in Berlin, Germany, which are affected by the effluent discharge of wastewater treatment plants. Here, we employed high-resolution continuum source graphite furnace molecular absorption spectrometry (HR-CS-GFMAS) for measuring extractable organofluorines (EOF) and compared in a mass balance approach the total fluorine to the identified and quantified PFAS from the targeted analysis. The analysis highlights that the EOF are in the range expected for an urban river system (Winchell et al. in Sci Total Environ 774, 2021). However, downstream of an effluent discharge, the EOF increased by one order of magnitude, e.g., 40.3 to 574 ng F L−1, along the Teltow Canal. From our target analytes, mostly short-chained perfluorinated carboxylic acids and sulfonates occur in the water, which however makes up less than 10% of the EOF. The increase in EOF in the Teltow Canal correlates well with the increase of perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA), indicating that PFHxA is characteristic for the discharged EOF but not responsible for the increase. Hence, it points to PFHxA precursor discharge. The study highlights that EOF screening using HR-CS-GFMAS is necessary to identify the full scale of pollution with regard to PFAS and other organofluorines such as pharmaceutical compounds from the effluent of WWTPs.

Characterizing the Movement of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in an Avian Aquatic–Terrestrial Food Web

“…However, PFAS concentrations across all of the compartments in the study conducted in Sweden were higher than those in the present study, possibly due to the proximity of their sampling location to a military airport. Concentrations of ∑ 46 PFAS and individual congeners in surface water effluent in the current study were greater than previously reported effluent receiving surface water in Berlin, Germany (∑ 10 PFAS), which may be attributed to differences in WWTP inputs or treatments. Concentrations of individual PFAS congeners in air samples, and the overall dominance of FTOHs compared to other PFAS congeners, in the present study, were largely consistent with reported concentrations of the same individual PFAS and dominance of FTOHs in urban air samples collected globally .…”

Analysis of needs for enforcement of PFAS in articles and chemical products

“…In their study, Nxumalo et al (2023), utilized HR-CS-GFMAS to assess extractable organically bound luorine (EOF) in surface water. The method was then compared with the quanti ied levels of PFAS identi ied through targeted analysis.…”