Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of > 10 000 substances that have been used in articles and chemical products for decades in a wide variety of sectors, ranging from impregnating agents for consumer and professional use to fire-fighting foams and materials for use in extreme conditions. However, their persistence (i.e. resistance to degradation) in combination with other problematic properties, such as bioaccumulation and toxicity, has raised concerns about this group of substances for the environment and human health. Therefore, PFAS have increasingly become subject to exposure/risk assessment and regulation. In the EU as well as globally (under the Stockholm Convention), groups of PFAS have been regulated and additional restriction proposals have been submitted. In the EU, restriction proposals of all PFAS jointly as a class have been submitted for use in firefighting foams1 as well as broadly for all other uses2.
Due to the large number of matrices in which PFAS can be used/found (e.g. articles and chemical products as well as environmental and biological samples), there is a need of robust and reliable (e.g. standardized and validated) analytical methods for the purpose of enforcement and compliance as well as for exposure- and risk assessment/management. Thus far, a broad range of analytical techniques have been developed and implemented for the analysis of PFAS. However, challenges still remain, such as availability of reference compounds, characterization of polymeric PFAS, the wide potential scope of materials to measure, technical limitations regarding LOQ, uncertainty on identification, …
All PFAS cannot be analysed with one analytical method, which puts pressure on economic viability of enforcement. More complementary methods are needed to capture as many PFAS as possible from different classes. The current state of PFAS analysis methods is summarized, needs for further method development are identified and a few case-studies will show what the future holds regarding PFAS analysis.
1. https://echa.europa.eu/sv/registry-of-restriction-intentions/-/dislist/details/0b0236e1856e8ce6
2. https://echa.europa.eu/sv/registry-of-restriction-intentions/-/dislist/details/0b0236e18663449b
