Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in the Environment - Shifting toward Fluorinated Alternatives?

• Main Author: Heydebreck, Franziska
• Other Authors: Steiger, Michael (Prof. Dr.)
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: German
• Published: Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg Carl von Ossietzky 2017
• Subjects: 540 Chemie; 43.12 Umweltchemie; ddc:540; Norwegian Sea
• Online Access: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:gbv:18-85720; https://ediss.sub.uni-hamburg.de/handle/ediss/7246

With the increasing number of studies and publications revealing the hazardous properties of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), there has been a growing concern about the use of PFASs, especially of long-chain compounds, in western countries. Consequently, the production of PFASs and PFASs-based products has been shifted toward countries in Asia as well as toward so-called fluorinated alternatives that have putatively more favorable toxicological and environmental attributes. However, the structural similarity suggests that the fluorinated alternatives are, likewise, persistent chemicals having the potential to accumulate in the environment. This thesis addresses the occurrence and distribution of legacy PFASs and fluorinated alternatives in riverine and coastal areas of Germany, the Netherlands, and China. By presenting first data on the widespread occurrence of fluorinated alternatives in surface waters, the thesis seeks to answer whether the recently identified fluorinated alternatives 2,3,3,3-tetrafluoro-2-(1,1,2,2,3,3,3,-heptafluoropropoxy)-propanoic acid (HFPO-DA) and 2,2,3-trifluoro-3-(1,1,2,2,3,3-hexafluoro-3-trifluoromethoxypropoxy)-propanoic acid (DONA) replace their predecessor substance perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) as emerging contaminants in the environment of the areas studied. Additionally, environmental samples from two selected potential sources in the textile and chemical industry were analyzed to gain knowledge about the origins of fluorinated alternatives in the environment. In particular, the textile industry is under pressure to substitute PFOA with alternative chemicals. Therefore, surface water samples were collected during ship as well as land-based sampling campaigns from the rivers Rhine, Elbe, Weser, Ems, and Xiaoqing as well as the Rhine-Meuse delta, the German Bight, the German coast of the Baltic Sea, the Laizhou Bay, the North Sea, and the Norwegian Sea. Moreover, effluent water from the chemical and textile industry was taken, and air and dust were sampled at a textile ...