A York University atmospheric chemistry research team has been measuring for gaseous fluorine to better understand the extent of previously unaccounted for PFAS in the atmosphere.
Most PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, include fluorine bonded with carbon, a bond that doesn’t naturally break down in the environment. The researchers say testing for fluorine is an easier way to assess how many PFAS are present in the air rather than measuring some 4,700 PFAS compounds individually.
The researchers measured how much fluorine was released into the air both in the lab and outside using chemicals such as fluorosurfactant liquids. They found 65 to 99% of the fluorine in the air inside the lab was not normally unaccounted for, while outside that number was about 50%.
“It’s important as missing gaseous fluorine accounts for a huge part of airborne PFAS compared to what we actually measure at the moment, which means a lot of the PFAS aren’t being detected,” says Professor Cora Young, an atmospheric chemist and Guy Warwick Rogers Chair in York’s Faculty of Science.
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Young, senior author of the study, notes that while there are techniques to measure total fluorine in soil and water, there hasn’t been one to capture it in its gas state in the atmosphere. The researchers used a method that they previously developed to test for total gaseous chlorine and adapted it to measure gaseous fluorine.
“Much of the focus of research on PFAS was on what’s happening in the water in the soil, not as much on what happens in the air, despite the fact that these fluorinated compounds, by the nature of their chemical properties and that they are in so many commercial products, are more likely to go into the air,” says Young.
A Method to Measure Total Gaseous Fluorine was published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters. It points out that unknown fluorinated chemicals emitted into the atmosphere could not only contribute to the transport of PFAS around the globe but also impact climate change.
