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Screening of textile finishing agents available on the Chinese market: An important source of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances to the environment

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Abstract

Organofluorinated surfactants are widely employed in textile finishing agents (TFAs) to achieve oil, water, and stain repellency. This has been regarded as an important emission source of per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) to the environment. China is the biggest manufacturer of clothes, and thus TFA production is also a relevant industrial activity. Nevertheless, to date, no survey has been conducted on PFAS contents in commercially available TFAs. In the present study, TFA products were investigated by the Kendrick mass defect method. The quantification results demonstrated a significant presence of perfluorooctane sulfonate (0.37 mg/L) in TFAs manufactured by electrochemical fluorination technology. The products obtained by short-chain PFAS-based telomerization were dominated by perfluorooctanoic acid (mean concentration: 0.29 mg/L), whose values exceeded the limits stated in the European Chemical Agency guidelines (0.025 mg/L). Moreover, the total oxidizable precursor assay indicated high levels of indirectly quantified precursors with long alkyl chains (C7-C9). Together, these results suggest that there is currently a certain of environmental and health risks in China that originates from the utilization of TFAs, and a better manufacturing processes are required to reduce such risks.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Major Science and Technology Program for Water Pollution Control and Treatment in China (Grant Nos. 2017ZX07202-001 & 2017ZX07202-004).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control (SKJLESPC), Beijing Key Laboratory for Emerging Organic Contaminants Control (BKLEOC), School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Mehvish Mumtaz, Yixiang Bao, Jun Huang & Gang Yu

  2. CSD IDEA (Beijing) Environment Test & Analysis Co., Ltd., Beijing, 100192, China

    Wenchao Li & Lingxiao Kong

Authors
  1. Mehvish Mumtaz
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  2. Yixiang Bao
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  3. Wenchao Li
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  4. Lingxiao Kong
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  5. Jun Huang
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  6. Gang Yu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jun Huang.

Additional information

Highlights

• Kendrick mass defect was used for PFASs screening in textile finishing agents (TFAs).

• Total oxidizable precursor assay provides insight into unknown precursors.

• Perfluorooctane sulfonate was found as impurity in short ECF technology based TFAs.

• Perfluorooctanoate was also detected in C6 telomerization based TFAs.

• Long chain precursors were also observed in both types of TFAs.

Supporting information

11783_2019_1145_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Screening of textile finishing agents available on the Chinese market: An important source of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances to the environment

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Mumtaz, M., Bao, Y., Li, W. et al. Screening of textile finishing agents available on the Chinese market: An important source of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances to the environment. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng. 13, 67 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-019-1145-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-019-1145-0

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