Drinking waterPFAS are compounds, which can take thousands of years to degrade and are found in everything from grease resistant food packaging to water repellent clothing, have made their way into nearly half the U.S. tap water supply.
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Now, in a study featured in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, New Jersey Institute of Technology chemists have demonstrated a new lab-based method to detect traces of PFAS from food packaging material, water and soil samples in just three minutes or less.
Researchers say their approach could significantly speed up efforts to study and address the bioaccumulation of PFAS in the environment, including more than $2 billion of EPA grant funding from President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for states to conduct water quality testing and treatment for the emerging contaminants.
"There are thousands of different species of PFAS, but we've yet to understand the extent of their distribution in our environment because the current testing methods are costly and time-consuming, taking hours for sample preparation and analysis in some cases," said Hao Chen, the study's corresponding author and NJIT chemistry professor.
"What our study demonstrates is a much faster, sensitive and versatile method that can monitor our drinking water, land and consumer products for contamination in minutes."
Chen and colleagues say the new method—involving an ionization technique for analyzing the molecular composition of sample materials called paper spray mass spectrometry (PS-MS)—is 10–100 times more sensitive than the current standard technique for PFAS testing, liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry.
"Our limit of detection for PFAS is roughly 1ppt. For context, this amount has been likened to a drop of water in 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools," added Md. Tanim-Al Hassan, the paper's first author and Ph.D. chemistry student at NJIT.
In tests, the team was able to detect PFAS in one minute or less by analyzing pieces of various food packaging materials directly, including microwave popcorn paper, instant noodle boxes, as well as fry and burger packaging from two multinational fast food restaurant chains.
The analysis revealed traces of 11 different PFAS molecules—including common types that have been linked to increased cancer risk and immune system suppression, such PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic Acid) and PFOS (Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid).
In their water analysis, the team detected traces of PFOA in samples of local tap water in under two minutes, while finding no traces of PFAS in samples taken from the university's filtered fountain water. ■