@article {91, title = {Detection, Occurrence, and Fate of Fluorotelomer Alcohols in Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants.}, journal = {Environ Sci Technol}, volume = {51}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 Aug 15}, pages = {8953-8961}, abstract = {

Fluorotelomer alcohols (FTOHs) are the most well-known precursors of perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs), but limited information is available on their occurrence and fate in municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The occurrence of FTOHs was investigated in influent, secondary effluent, and sludge of 12 municipal WWTPs in nine cities of China. FTOHs were detected in all WWTPs, and 8:2 FTOH was the predominant congener, with concentrations of 2.10-11.0 ng/L, 3.05-12.4 ng/L, and 0.36-1.91 ng/g dry weight in the influent, secondary effluent, and sludge, respectively. Relatively high proportions of long-chain FTOHs (C) were mainly detected in sludge samples. The mass balance of FTOHs and PFCAs in one of the WWTPs with an anaerobic-anoxic-oxic process was further explored. The decrease of mass loads was observed for 4:2 FTOH (mass change percentage: 21 {\textpm} 3.3\%), 8:2 FTOH (22 {\textpm} 1.5\%), and 10:2 FTOH (29 {\textpm} 7.3\%) through aerobic treatment, while the increase of mass loads was observed for 12 PFCAs from 18 {\textpm} 16\% (perfluorononanoic acid) to 165 {\textpm} 15\% (perfluorobutyric acid)), suggesting the potential biotransformation of FTOHs to PFCAs in the aerobic unit. This work provides the first report on the occurrence of FTOHs in sludge samples of municipal WWTPs and their mass balance and highlights a new emission route to environment via WWTPs.

}, keywords = {Alcohols, China, Cities, Fluorocarbons, Sewage, Waste Water}, issn = {1520-5851}, doi = {10.1021/acs.est.7b00315}, author = {Chen, Hongrui and Peng, Hui and Yang, Min and Hu, Jianying and Zhang, Yu} } @article {102, title = {Ubiquitous Occurrence of Fluorotelomer Alcohols in Eco-Friendly Paper-Made Food-Contact Materials and Their Implication for Human Exposure.}, journal = {Environ Sci Technol}, volume = {50}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Jan 19}, pages = {942-50}, abstract = {

The occurrence of fluorotelomer alcohols (FTOHs) was investigated in 94 food-contact materials (FCMs). We detected 6:2 FTOH (\<0.60-1110 ng/g), 8:2 FTOH (\<0.40-8490 ng/g), and 10:2 FTOH (\<0.02-9350 ng/g) in most FCM samples, and four longer-chain C14-20 FTOHs were, for the first time, identified in FCMs with relatively high concentrations (\<0.02-8450 ng/g for 12:2 FTOH, \<0.02-1640 ng/g for 14:2 FTOH, \<0.02-372 ng/g for 16:2 FTOH, and \<0.02-130 ng/g for 18:2 FTOH). There were three typical profiles of FTOHs that were dominated by 6:2 FTOH (95.6 {\textpm} 8.1\% in 9 FCMs), 8:2 FTOH (50.9 {\textpm} 20.8\% in 22 FCMs), and 10:2 FTOH (44.5 {\textpm} 20.9\% in 30 FCMs), indicating the congener-specific usage of FTOHs for different commercial purposes. All nine detectable FCMs produced in the United States were dominated by 6:2 FTOH, which was significantly different from those produced in China. The median concentration of total FTOHs in eco-friendly paper tableware was 2990 ng/g, which was lower than in popcorn bags (18 200 ng/g) but much higher than other FCMs (\<0.55-38.7 ng/g). FTOHs could migrate from paper bowls, with migration efficiencies of 0.004-0.24\% into water, 0.004-0.24\% into 10\% ethanol, 0.009-2.79\% into 30\% ethanol, 0.06-13.0\% into 50\% ethanol (v/v) simulants, and 0.04-2.28\% into oil. Migration efficiencies decreased with increasing carbon chain lengths of FTOHs.

}, keywords = {Alcohols, Biodegradation, Environmental, Fluorocarbons, Food Contamination, Food Packaging, Humans, Paper}, issn = {1520-5851}, doi = {10.1021/acs.est.5b03806}, author = {Yuan, Guanxiang and Peng, Hui and Huang, Chong and Hu, Jianying} } @article {114, title = {Derivatization method for sensitive determination of fluorotelomer alcohols in sediment by liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry.}, journal = {J Chromatogr A}, volume = {1288}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 May 03}, pages = {48-53}, abstract = {

Fluorotelomer alcohols (FTOHs) are the main precursors of environmentally ubiquitous perfluorinated acids, and determination of FTOHs at low concentrations presents significant challenges. In this study, a new liquid chromatography-electrospray mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS) method in conjunction with low-energy collision dissociation tandem mass spectrometry (CID-MS/MS) was developed by employing an optimized derivatization reaction with dansyl chloride (DNS) in acetonitrile under catalysis of 4-(dimethylamino)-pyridine (DMAP). The instrument detection limits (IDLs) of the newly developed method were 0.014, 0.015, 0.014, 0.0075 and 0.0093μg/L for 4:2 FTOH, 6:2 FTOH, 8:2 FTOH, 10:1 FTOH and 10:2 FTOH respectively, which were 7.5-241 times lower than those without derivatizaiton and 57-357 times lower than previous GC/MS method. The method was successfully applied to analyze FTOHs in sediments combined with WAX and silica cartridges cleanup. The overall method recoveries were from 67{\textpm}6.0\% to 83{\textpm}9.4\% with matrix effects of \<15\%. The limits of quantification for all FTOHs were 0.017-0.060ng/gdry weight (dw). The method was applied to analyze six marine sediment samples from Liaodong Bay, China. All FTOHs except for 10:1 FTOH were detected, and the total concentrations of FTOHs were 0.19-0.52ng/gdw. The developed method provides a new method to sensitively determine FTOHs in environmental matrices.

}, keywords = {Alcohols, China, Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid, Environmental Pollutants, Fluorocarbons, Geologic Sediments, Reproducibility of Results, Sensitivity and Specificity, Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization, Tandem Mass Spectrometry}, issn = {1873-3778}, doi = {10.1016/j.chroma.2013.02.085}, author = {Peng, Hui and Hu, Kejun and Zhao, Fanrong and Hu, Jianying} }