Poly And Per Fluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) are everywhere. Whilst there has been a lot of focus internationally on PFAS in water, researchers and governments globally are turning their attention to volatile gas phase species in air.
Gaseous PFAS have many sources including PFAS production facilities, aqueous film forming foams (AFFF), soil gas, materials and remediation of PFAS impacted sites/materials.
PFAS in the air can spread easily, transform into more toxic species1 and impact other matrices, such as water and soil, through deposition.
Understanding and monitoring PFAS in air is an important part of controlling the spread of PFAS and reducing exposure to humans.
Thermal desorption coupled to gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS) is commonly applied to monitoring of hazardous organic compounds in ambient air.
The technique is being utilised successfully by environmental agencies and researchers globally to monitor gaseous PFAS2.
In this study we will show how TD-GC-MS can offer a robust approach to target and non-target screening of PFAS in a variety of samples.