NEMC 2022

Recent Trends in PFAS Analysis

There have been many collaborative studies to analyze per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the environment for the past decade. Agencies, such as the U.S. EPA, ISO, DIN, ASTM, and many commercial laboratories, have been working together to develop test methods for reliable PFAS quantitation in drinking water, wastewater, soil, and air. Some testing standards are currently available, and some methods are still under development.

In this presentation, we will review what the PFAS testing community has been working on so far and will compare some testing standards with each other; discuss common challenges in the testing; and provide more updates on the new topics of air testing for PFAS and ultrashort chain PFAS in water. We will also discuss challenges we experienced during the research, and how we solved them.

Ambient and Indoor Air Sampling for Per- and Polyfluorinated Alkyl Substances (PFAS)

PFAS compounds have become a topic of great concern in recent years due to their ubiquity and health effects, such as cancer, thyroid disease, and pregnancy issues. While numerous published methods exist for the analysis of PFAS in water matrices, the analysis of PFAS in air is relatively underdeveloped. In 2021, the EPA released the draft method OTM-45, outlining a sampling procedure and analytical guidelines for PFAS in source air using XAD-2 resin, liquid impingers, and LC-MS/MS analysis.

This presentation will outline a method for ambient and indoor air monitoring of PFAS based on OTM-45 using small volume samplers and Restek’s Ultra Clean Resin. A method for cleaning and extracting the resin-filled samplers using Accelerated Solvent Extraction (ASE) will be shown that provides a simple method to both clean the sampling apparatus and extract samples.