The Air We Breathe: Neutral and Volatile PFAS in Indoor Air

Environ. science. technology. Technology. Lett. 2021, XXXX , XXXX , XXX-XXX

Publication date: August 31, 2021

Available at: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.1c00481

DESCRIPTION

Sources of exposure to perfluorinated and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) include food, water, and in the air and dust, given that humans spend 90% of their time indoors.

Therefore, it should be considered important to quantify PFAS that are prevalent indoors, such as neutral and volatile PFAS, and estimate the risk of exposure to humans.

To accurately measure these compounds indoors, polyethylene (PE) sheets were employed, validated as a passive detection tool, and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

The air concentrations were then compared to dust and carpet concentrations reported elsewhere, and the partitioning between PE sheets of different thicknesses suggested that the interaction between PE and the compounds occurred by absorption.

Volatile PFAS, fluorotelomeric alcohols (FTOH), were found to be ubiquitous in the indoor environment.

Concentrations of volatile PFAS from air, carpet, and dust were closely related, with carpet and dust being the major sources of airborne FTOH, while air posed the greatest exposure risk for FTOH and biotransformed perfluorinated alkyl acids (PFAA) in young children.

The results of this study highlight indoor air inhalation as an important exposure pathway and the need for further reduction of PFAA precursors.