Multimedia Fate and Intake Fractions of PFAS Precursors and Terminal Degradation Products

Presented on April 28, 2022, by Natalie Kerr - Illinois State Water Survey - at the 2022 Emerging Contaminants in the Environment Conference (ECEC22)

This work explores PFAS environmental fate and human exposure factors while accounting for multimedia transport and precursor transformations into terminal degradation products. This is done by compiling a database of physicochemical properties for 76 PFAS and by deriving multimedia cumulative exposures via inhalation and ingestion for each PFAS chemical. Precursor transformations are assigned in air, soil, freshwater, and freshwater sediment for 10:2 FTOH, 8:2 FTOH, 6:2 FTOH, 4:2 FTOH, 8:2 FTSA, 6:2 FTSA, and 4:2 FTSA and used to assess exposure to terminal degradation compounds. The routes of ingestion considered are drinking water, above ground produce, below ground produce, fish, meat, and dairy. The emission scenarios considered are urban air, rural air, agricultural soil, natural soil, and freshwater. The results of this work include human exposure pathways and intake fractions, current PFAS data gaps, and address the impact of both multimedia transport and precursor degradation to human exposure. Both experimental exposure-based sampling and regulatory emission-based sampling should consider multimedia transport of parent and terminal degradation compounds, and include intermedia sampling for specific PFAS, as informed by fate factors and routes of exposure.