Reaction of Perfluorooctanoic Acid with Criegee Intermediates and Implications for the Atmospheric Fate of Perfluorocarboxylic Acids

Craig A. Taatjes; M. Anwar H. Khan; Arkke J. Eskola; Carl J. Percival; David L. Osborn; Timothy J. Wallington; Dudley E. Shallcross

doi:10.1021/acs.est.8b05073

Reaction of Perfluorooctanoic Acid with Criegee Intermediates and Implications for the Atmospheric Fate of Perfluorocarboxylic Acids

Environmental Science & Technology ◽

10.1021/acs.est.8b05073 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 53 (3) ◽

pp. 1245-1251 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Craig A. Taatjes ◽

M. Anwar H. Khan ◽

Arkke J. Eskola ◽

Carl J. Percival ◽

David L. Osborn ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Perfluorooctanoic Acid ◽

Atmospheric Fate ◽

Criegee Intermediates ◽

Perfluorocarboxylic Acids

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Investigating the Atmospheric Sources and Sinks of Perfluorooctanoic Acid Using a Global Chemistry Transport Model

Atmosphere ◽

10.3390/atmos11040407 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 407 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Rayne Holland ◽

M. Anwar H. Khan ◽

Rabi Chhantyal-Pun ◽

Andrew J. Orr-Ewing ◽

Carl J. Percival ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Environmental Degradation ◽

Transport Model ◽

Perfluorooctanoic Acid ◽

Chemical Transport Model ◽

Atmospheric Concentration ◽

Loss Process ◽

Criegee Intermediates ◽

The Many ◽

Phase Out ◽

Atmospheric Loss

Perfluorooctanoic acid, PFOA, is one of the many concerning pollutants in our atmosphere; it is highly resistant to environmental degradation processes, which enables it to accumulate biologically. With direct routes of this chemical to the environment decreasing, as a consequence of the industrial phase out of PFOA, it has become more important to accurately model the effects of indirect production routes, such as environmental degradation of precursors; e.g., fluorotelomer alcohols (FTOHs). The study reported here investigates the chemistry, physical loss and transport of PFOA and its precursors, FTOHs, throughout the troposphere using a 3D global chemical transport model, STOCHEM-CRI. Moreover, this investigation includes an important loss process of PFOA in the atmosphere via the addition of the stabilised Criegee intermediates, hereby referred to as the “Criegee Field.” Whilst reaction with Criegee intermediates is a significant atmospheric loss process of PFOA, it does not result in its permanent removal from the atmosphere. The atmospheric fate of the resultant hydroperoxide product from the reaction of PFOA and Criegee intermediates resulted in a ≈0.04 Gg year−1 increase in the production flux of PFOA. Furthermore, the physical loss of the hydroperoxide product from the atmosphere (i.e., deposition), whilst decreasing the atmospheric concentration, is also likely to result in the reformation of PFOA in environmental aqueous phases, such as clouds, precipitation, oceans and lakes. As such, removal facilitated by the “Criegee Field” is likely to simply result in the acceleration of PFOA transfer to the surface (with an expected decrease in PFOA atmospheric lifetime of ≈10 h, on average from ca. 80 h without Criegee loss to 70 h with Criegee loss).

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Faculty Opinions recommendation of Defluorination of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) by acidimicrobium sp. strain A6.

Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature ◽

10.3410/f.736624905.793566070 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Kevin Sowers

Keyword(s):

Perfluorooctane Sulfonate ◽

Perfluorooctanoic Acid

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ON THE NEED FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF HYGIENIC STANDARDS (MACs) IN THE WATER AND AIR OF THE WORKING AREA FOR PERFLUOROOCTANOIC ACID IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Токсикологический вестник ◽

10.36946/0869-7922-2020-5-21-31 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 21-31

Author(s):

Kh. Kh. Khamidulina ◽

E. V. Tarasova ◽

A. S. Proskurina ◽

A. R. Egiazaryan ◽

I. V. Zamkova ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Waste Water ◽

Russian Federation ◽

Perfluorooctanoic Acid ◽

Stockholm Convention ◽

The European Union ◽

Industrial Emissions ◽

Hazard Class ◽

Human Environment ◽

Class 1 ◽

The Russian Federation

Currently, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) has no hygienic standards in the air of the working area and objects of the human environment in the Russian Federation. By the decision of the Stockholm Convention SC-9/12, PFOA, its salts and derivatives are included in Part I of Annex A of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in 2019 (with exceptions for possible use). The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade included PFOA, its salts and derivatives in the list of potential candidates for inclusion in Annex III of the Rotterdam Convention at the next meeting COP10 in 2021. The use of this chemical on the territory of the Russian Federation entails water and air pollution. Industrial emissions and waste water from fluoropolymer production, thermal use of materials and products containing polytetrafluoroethylene, biological and atmospheric degradation of fluorotelomer alcohols, waste water from treatment facilities are the sources of the release of PFOA into the environment. Analysis of international databases has showed that PFOA is standardized in the air of the working area in Germany, Japan, and Switzerland. In the countries of the European Union, as well as the USA and Canada, the issue of PFOA standardizing in drinking water is being now actively under discuss. Taking into account the high toxicity and hazard of the substance and the serious concern of the civil society of the Russian Federation, the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing requested the Russian Register of Potentially Hazardous Chemical and Biological Substances to develop MACs for perfluorooctanoic acid in the air of the working area and water as soon as possible. The MACs for PFOA have been proposed using risk analysis: 0,005 mg/m3, aerosol, hazard class 1 – in the air of the working area and 0,0002 mg/L, the limiting hazard indicator – sanitary-toxicological, hazard class 1 – in the water.

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