Determination of persistent perfluorinated compounds in municipal plants of wastewater treatment using LC-MS/MS

Perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) are emerging pollutants that have been used for half a century in a wide variety of industrial processes and consumer-based products. PFCs ha­ve received a lot of attention in the last ten years due to their detection in environmental and biological matrices as well as concerns regarding their persistence and toxicity. Recent studies indicate that municipal wastewater treatment plants are point sources of PFCs. The significance of PFCs discharges from wastewater treatment plants in Arizona was investi­gated in this research.A quantitative method consisting of acid wash-solvent extraction of the PFCs followed by solid phase extraction (SPE) clean-up and concentration was successfully developed to assess the presence of PFCs in environmental solid matrices. LC-MS/MS was employed to detect and quantify PFCs in sludge samples. Selected ion monitoring (SIM) analysis was used to improve detection limits for the perfluorinated compounds. The detection limits of the PFCs evaluated in this study were 50 pg L-1 for perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorodecano sulfonate (PFDS) and perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA), and 200 pg L-1 for perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHXs) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). PFOS (77 ± 5 ng g-1 sludge dry weight) was the only perfluorinated compound detected in municipal sewage sludge samples from Tucson, Arizona.