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Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) in water and sediment from the coastal regions of Shandong peninsula, China

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Abstract

Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) have been observed in various environmental matrices globally in recent years. In this study, the levels, spatial distribution tendencies, and partitioning characteristics of the target 12 PFAAs were investigated in water and sediment from the coastal regions of Shandong peninsula in China, and two sediment core samples were also collected to study the vertical and historical variation of PFAAs. The ranges (means) of total PFAA concentrations were 23.69–148.48 ng/L (76.11 ng/L) in the water and 1.30–11.17 ng/g (5.93 ng/g) in the surface sediment, respectively. Among the target 12 PFAAs, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) was the dominant component in water, followed by perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA). PFOS, perfluoroundecanoic acid, and PFOA were the dominant components in sediment. For their spatial distribution, higher levels of PFAAs were found at the locations close to much developed cities. The PFAA concentrations showed an overall decreasing tendency with depth increase in the two sediment cores, which indicates that the extent of PFAAs pollution is aggravating trend in recent years. Results of the partition coefficient (K d ) show that the compounds with longer carbon chains (C ≥ 7) generally had higher K d values, which suggest that long-chain PFAAs are prone to be adsorbed by sediment. In addition, the Log K d of PFHxA, PFOA, and PFOS were significantly and positively correlated to the salinity of the water. The results of risk assessment suggest appreciable risk of PFAAs to the local ecosystem.

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Acknowledgements

This study is supported by the Project of National Natural Science Foundation of Youth Science Foundation (No. 41301532), the Encouraging Foundation for Outstanding Youth Scientists of Shandong Province (No. BS2012HZ006), the National Key Research Project on Water Environmental Pollution Control in China (No. 2012ZX07301-001), and the Project of Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (No. ZR2012HM045).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography and Tourism, Qufu Normal University, Rizhao, 276826, China

    Yi Wan, Shiliang Wang, Xuezhi Cao, Yuanxin Cao & Lu Zhang

  2. State Key Joint Laboratory on Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Hui Wang

  3. School of Life Science, Qufu Normal University, Qufu, 273165, China

    Jinfeng Liu

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  1. Yi Wan
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  2. Shiliang Wang
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  3. Xuezhi Cao
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  4. Yuanxin Cao
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Correspondence to Shiliang Wang.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Wan, Y., Wang, S., Cao, X. et al. Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) in water and sediment from the coastal regions of Shandong peninsula, China. Environ Monit Assess 189, 100 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-017-5807-8

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