Novel approach to determine contamination of total highly fluorinated chemicals in water samples

Highly fluorinated chemicals, also known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, have been produced and used in various industrial and commercial applications. Some of these man-made highly fluorinated chemicals are persistent organic pollutants under Stockholm Convention. Due to environmental and human health concerns, some of these chemicals have been discontinued.

As a result of the phase-out, numerous fluorinated replacement products with the same desirable properties are introduced onto the global market.

Our recent results showed that Swedish population contained 64% of the unknown organofluorine in their blood suggesting exposure to unknown fluorinated chemicals. The health effects of these unknowns are not known. Drinking water has been identified as an important source of exposure for many populations.

Up to date, 4700 chemicals in this class have been registered but limited number of chemicals are monitored.

This project aims to develop a new  methodology that allows determining contamination of highly fluorinated chemicals in water without knowing their identities and corresponding reference standards, which are existing obstacles to measuring target chemicals.

This approach can determine the total amount of highly fluorinated chemicals in water, not limited to 2 to 20 chemicals, which will meet the generation goal and non-toxic environment objective set by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and support the UN Sustainable Development Goals.