Don't let go into waste - Fluorine compounds in our Water

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have become a major concern as persistent micro-pollutants in wastewater. Recognized within the European Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, PFAS pose significant environmental and health risks due to their stability and bioaccumulation potential. Current regulatory approaches, such as the PFAS-20 list, only capture a small fraction of the thousands of PFAS compounds and fail to account for their numerous degradation products.

To address this gap, a more comprehensive sum parameter is needed. The concept of Total PFAS offers a broader perspective, but practical implementation remains challenging. At Analytik Jena, we propose Adsorbable Organic Fluorine (AOF) as an effective sum parameter for monitoring fluorinated compounds. AOF enables robust, inclusive quantification of PFAS and their transformation products, supporting compliance and advancing sustainable water management.