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Occurrence characteristics and health risk assessment of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances from water in residential areas around fluorine chemical industrial areas, China

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Abstract

Recently, identifying the contamination status and assessing the health risk of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in surface water and groundwater have been of great significance. Eighteen individual PFASs were analyzed in thirty-three surface/groundwater samples during one period in a fluorine chemical park (Park A) and during two periods in Park B. The mean total concentration of 18 PFASs (∑PFASs) in Park A (9104.63 ng·L−1) was significantly higher than that in the wet season (WS) (801.68 ng·L−1) or DS (714.64 ng·L−1) in Park B. The perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS) was the predominant substance in the two parks, and the maximum concentration in groundwater exceeded 10,000 ng·L−1. The contamination status in the wet season (WS) was higher than that in the dry season (DS) in Park B. The ∑PFASs in Park A presented an increasing tendency following the groundwater flow direction, whereas this rule was limited to all periods in Park B. Two relative source contributions (RSCs) of 20% or 100% allowed assessing the PFASs risk to different age groups, and the results revealed that some PFASs (4 ≤ C ≤ 7 or 9 ≤ C ≤ 12) were identified as having a low risk quotient (RQ), except for perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and PFOA (C = 8). The RQmix value mainly relies on PFOA and PFOS, with a larger contribution rate of 80–90%. All assessed cases (case 1, case 2, case 3, and case 4) in all age groups revealed that infants were vulnerable to PFASs influence, followed by children, teenagers, and adults.

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Funding

This work was supported by Liaoning BaiQianWan Talents Program (2021921100) and Integration of ecosystem restoration and management technologies and demonstration of ecological industry development in northwest Liaoning Province (2020JH1/10300006).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Liaoning Technical University, Fuxin, 123000, China

    Jiaxi Tang, Yongle Zhu, Yu Li, Biao Xiang & Ting Tan

  2. Liaoning Research Institute of Sand Control and Utilization, Fuxin, 123000, China

    Linyou Lv

  3. Key Laboratory of Regional Environment and Eco-Remediation of Ministry of Education, College of Environment, Shenyang University, Shenyang, 110044, China

    Qing Luo

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  1. Jiaxi Tang
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  2. Yongle Zhu
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  3. Yu Li
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  4. Biao Xiang
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  6. Linyou Lv
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  7. Qing Luo
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Contributions

All the authors made contributions to the study conception and design. J. X. T. conceived of the experiment and drafted the manuscripts, Y. L. Z. conducted the experiment, collected samples and drafted the manuscripts, Y. L., B. X., and T. T. collected the samples and conducted the experiment. Q. L. and L. Y. L. tested all the samples. All the authors reviewed and edited the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Qing Luo.

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Tang, J., Zhu, Y., Li, Y. et al. Occurrence characteristics and health risk assessment of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances from water in residential areas around fluorine chemical industrial areas, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 60733–60743 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-20155-8

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