• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.334-342
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• 2009

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) have a wide range of domestic and industrial applications, but they are persistent in the environment. Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) are among the metabolites of PFCs and occur at high concentration in the environment. Korea is the largest importer of PFC compounds in the world, therefore, the accumulation of these compounds is possible. In this study, the concentrations of PFOS and PFOA were determined in water samples taken from sewage treatment plants (STPs) and the Han River in Seoul, Korea. After extraction with a HLB cartridge, PFCs in the samples were analyzed by HPLC with an ion trap mass spectrometry in electrospray negative mode. Limits of detection was between 1 and 1.6 ng/l. The result showed that the concentrations of PFOS and PFOA in effluent and influent of the four STPs in Seoul were 60~570 ng/l, and not detected (nd)~254 ng/l, respectively. The levels of PFOS and PFOA were higher in the effluents which passed through the treatment process than in influent water samples which was against expectation. The concentration of PFOA and PFOS in the Han River was 60~570 ng/l and nd~254 ng/l, respectively. PFOA was detected in every sample, but PFOS was only detected in the downstreams of the Han River. This result indicates that there is comprehensive contamination of PFCs in the aquatic environment in Korea.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.20-28
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• 2021

Perfluorinated compounds(PFCs), an emerging environmental pollutant, are environmentally persistent and bioaccumulative organic compounds that possess a toxic impact on human health and ecosystems. PFCs are distributed widely in environment media including groundwater, surface water, soil and sediment. PFCs in contaminated solid can potentially leach into groundwater. Therefore, understanding PFCs partitioning between the aqueous phase and solid phase is important for the determination of their fate and transport in the environment. In this study, the sorption equilibrium batch and kinetic experiment of PFCs were carried out to estimated the sorption coefficient(K_d) and the fraction between aqueous-solid phase partition, respectively. Sorption branches of the PFDA(Perfluoro-n-decanoic acid), PFNA(Perfluoro-n-nonanoic acid), PFOA(Perfluoro-n-octanoic acid), PFOS(Perfluoro-1-octane sulfonic acid) and PFHxS(Perfluoro-1-hexane sulfonic acid) isotherms were nearly linear, and the estimated K_d was as follow: PFDA(1.50) > PFOS(1.49) > PFNA(0.81) > PFHxS(0.45) > PFOA(0.39). The sorption kinetics of PFDA, PFNA, PFOA, PFOS and PFHxS onto soil were described by a biexponential adsorption model, suggesting that a fast transport into the surface layer of soil, followed by two-step diffusion transport into the internal water and/or organic matter of soil. Shorter times(<20hr) were required to achieve equilibrium and fraction for adsorption on solid(F₁, F₂) increased with perfluorinated carbon chain length and sulfonate compounds in this study. Overall, our results suggested that not only the perfluorocarbon chain length, but also the terminal functional groups are important contributors to electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions between PFCs and soils, and organic matter in soils significantly affects adsorption maximum capacity than kinetic rate.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.35 no.7
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• pp.485-494
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• 2013

An efficient extraction method was developed for the analysis of 16 perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in fish samples. We compared the recoveries from the Ion-Pairing Extraction (IPE), Liquid-Liquid Extraction (LLE), Solid-Phase Extraction (SPE), IPE + SPE method with varying the injection time of the internal standard. As a result, IPE method with the internal standard before extraction was evaluated as the most effective pretreatment method. The RPM (Revolution Per Munite) and pH in IPE-before method were additionally adjusted and the more efficient pretreatment method was established. The total 33 fish samples including liver and gut samples were collected from Korean markets and analyzed PFCs with developed pretreatment method of this study. Total 16 PFC levels in fish samples ranged from ND to 1.67 ng/g with 100% detection frequency. The average PFCs concentrations of muscle, liver and gut samples from fish were compared and showed the following trend: liver (17.8 ng/g) > gut (13.3 ng/g) > muscle (1.67 ng/g). The PFC levels in fish samples were similar or lower than other available previous results of foreign studies.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.323-334
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• 2020

Adsorption by granule activated carbon(GAC) is recognized as an efficient method for the removal of perfluorinated compounds(PFCs) in water, while the poor regeneration and exchange cycles of granule active carbon make it difficult to sustain adsorption capacity for PFCs. In this study, the behavior of PFCs in the effluent of wastewater treatment plant (S), the raw water and the effluents of drinking water treatment plants (M1 and M2) located in Nakdong river waegwan watershed was monitored. Optimal regeneration and exchange cycles was also investigated in drinking water treatment plants and lab-scale adsorption tower for stable PFCs removal. The mean effluent concentration of PFCs was 0.044 0.04 PFHxS g/L, 0.000 0.00 PFOS g/L, 0.037 0.011 PFOA g/L, for S wastewater treatment plant, 0.023 0.073 PFHxS g/L, 0.000 0.00 PFOS g/L, 0.013 0.008 PFOA g/L for M1 drinking water treatment plant and 0.023 0.073 PFHxS g/L, 0.000 0.01 PFOS g/L, 0.011 0.009 PFOA g/L for M2 drinking water treatment plant. The adsorption breakthrough behaviors of PFCs in GAC of drinking water treatment plant and lab-scale adsorption tower indicated that reactivating carbon 3 times per year suggested to achieve and maintain good removal of PFASs. Considering the results of mass balance, the adsorption amount of PFCs was improved by using GAC with high-specific surface area (2,500㎡/g), so that the regeneration cycle might be increased from 4 months to 10 months even if powdered activated carbon(PAC) could be alternatives. This study provides useful insights into the removal of PFCs in drinking water treatment plant.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.14-20
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• 2018

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) have recently been recognized as global environmental pollutants. This study was performed to develop an analytical method for determination of levels of PFCs in food by LC-MS/MS. One hundred and nine food products were divided into two groups based on their fat and protein contents (high and low), following which samples containing high fat and protein contents were pooled and subjected to pretreatment consisting of enzymatic degradation and hexane extraction. The limit of detection of 17 PFCs in the samples were in the range of 0.013-0.145 ng/g. The degrees of precision of detection for group 1 (samples with low fat and protein contents) and group 2 (samples with high fat and protein contents) were 0.8-21.1 and 1.7-28.2%, respectively, with an accuracy of 78.8-109.8% for group 1 and 80-114.5% for group 2. This study indicated that pretreatment of high fat and protein foods with enzymatic degradation and hexane extraction would improve the detection of PFCs in food.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.171-174
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• 2017

Non-hydrolyzable fluorinated organosilicon compounds as an eletrolyte for the application of lithium-ion batteries (LIB) are synthesized. New synthetic method for the perfluorinated organosilicon compound containing spacer such as ethyl and propyl group with cyano moiety instead of ethylene glycol to prevent hydrolysis and to promote conductivity are developed in one pot reaction with moderately high yield. Air-sensitive boron trifluoride etherate is no longer required in this reaction. The products are characterized by spectroscopic analysis.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.1009-1017
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• 2013

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctyl sulfonate (PFOS) is a new persistent organic pollutants of substantial environmental concern. This study investigated the potential of magnetic ion exchange resin (MIEX$^{(R)}$) as the adsorbent for the removal of PFOA and PFOS from Nakdong River water. In our batch experiments, we studied the effect of some parameters (pH, temperature, sulfate concentration) on the removal of PFOA and PFOS. The results of sorption kinetics on MIEX$^{(R)}$ show that it takes 90 min to reach equilibrium but the economical contact time and dosage were 30 min and 10 mL/L. An increase in pH (pH 6~10) leads to a decrease in PFOA (2.0%) and PFOS (3.6%) sorption on MIEX$^{(R)}$. The sorption of both PFOA and PFOS decreases with an increase in ionic strength for sulfate ion (${SO_4}^{2-}$), due to the competition phenomenon. An increase in water temperature ($8^{\circ}C{\sim}28^{\circ}C$) in water leads to a increase in PFOA (2.8%) and PFOS (4.3%) sorption on MIEX$^{(R)}$. Based on the sorption behaviors and characteristics of the adsorbents and adsorbates, ion exchange and hydrophobic interaction were deduced to be involved in the sorption, and hemi-micelles possibly formed in the intraparticle pores.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.11
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• pp.3727-3734
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• 2012

An analytical method has been developed for the rapid determination of perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in human serum samples. The extraction and purification of PFCs from human serum were performed by the modified method of previous report. Ten PFCs were rapidly separated within 3.3 min by C18-monolithic column liquid chromatography (LC) and detected by electrospray ionization (ESI) tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) in negative ion mode. The runtime of PFCs on monolithic column LC was up to 4-fold faster than that on conventional column LC. The effect of triethylamine (TEA) to the mobile phase has investigated on the overall MS detection sensitivity of PFCs in ESI ionization. Quantification was performed by LC-MS/MS in multiple-ion reaction monitoring (MRM) mode, using $^{13}C$-labeled internal standards. Method validation was performed to determine recovery, linearity, precision, and limits of quantification, followed by, the analysis of a standard reference material (SRM 1957 from NIST). The overall recoveries ranged between 81.5 and 106.3% with RSDs of 3.4 to 16.2% for the entire procedure. The calibration range extended from 0.33 to 50 $ng\;mL^{-1}$, with a correlation coefficient ($R^2$) greater than 0.995 and the limits of quantification with 0.08 to 0.46 $ng\;mL^{-1}$. This approach can be used for rapid and sensitive quantitative analysis of 10 PFCs in human serum with high performance and accuracy.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.108-113
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• 2019

In this study, the decomposition characteristics of perfluorinated compounds generated in semiconductor manufacturing process were investigated by using a high temperature plasma. The analysis results revealed that $CF_4$ and $SF_6$ showed the highest efficiency at 12.8 kW power, but no significant difference was observed at the power above. Experimental results showed that the maximum efficiency was obtained at the flow rate of about 14 mL/min and the treatment efficiency decreased as the flow rate increased or decreased with respect to the flow rate of 14 mL/min. As a result, the decomposition characteristics of perflurocompounds (PFCs) using a high temperature plasma could be grasped, and also the basis for the treatment of PFCs and greenhouse gases generated in the semiconductor manufacturing process could be obtained.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.326-334
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• 2012

To determine the concentrations and the mass flow of selected 10 perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), a field study was conducted in a wastewater treatment plant. Raw influent, primary influent, primary effluent, aeration tank effluent, secondary effluent, final effluent, dehydration liquor, primary sludge, thickened sludge, final sludge were collected over 3 days in the summer and the winter respectively. Collected samples were equally mixed and then served as an analytical sample. Total 10 compounds were analyzed. In terms of treated water, the concentration of perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) were in range of N.D.~26.29 ng/L and N.D.~38.15 ng/L respectively. Perfluorononanoate (PFNA) and perfluorohexanesulfonate (PFHxS) were ranged from N.D. to 36.79 ng/L and from N.D. to 24.36 ng/L. In terms of sludges, a concentration of PFOS, PFOA, and perfluorodecanesulfonate (PFDS) were detected from 6.82 to 59.37 ng/g, from 0.13 to 0.37 ng/g, from N.D. to 0.83 ng/g respectively. Mass loading for PFCs increased during wastewater treatment except for PFNA. The observed increase in mass flow of PFCs may have resulted from biodegradation of precursor compounds.