Current progress in the environmental analysis of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)

Abstract

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are a class of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). They are widely used in industrial and consumer applications and are known for their persistence, long-distance migration and toxicity. Various PFASs have been manufactured and distributed over the years at a global scale. Decades of relevant research on these emerging contaminants has revealed that PFASs are bio-accumulative and possibly carcinogenic to animals as well as humans. Following regulations and public concern about their impact on ecosystems and uncertain environmental fate, some legacy PFASs have been banned in some regions e.g. Europe, and their industrial production has switched to alternative fluoroalkyl substances. Recently, novel PFAS classes have been identified in numerous environmental matrices. The high variety of legacy and emerging PFASs across the ecosystems is alarming and calls for an efficient monitoring strategy for the quantitative determination of known substances as well as the elucidation and discovery of new compounds. This is crucial for PFAS management and risk assessment in the environment and merits the attention of regulators. This review reports and discusses the most recent analytical method development for PFASs in air, water, abiotic solid matrices and biological matrices. Various instrumental analysis techniques and screening approaches are presented, explored, and compared on the basis of their efficiency and applicability, together with sampling, pre-treatment and extraction methods. Additionally, promising non-target and non-specific approaches are addressed as the key-element in future PFAS analysis.