Levels, Isomer Profiles, and Estimated Riverine Mass Discharges of Perfluoroalkyl Acids and Fluorinated Alternatives at the Mouths of Chinese Rivers
Open accessAbstract
PFAAs varied considerably among the 19 rivers (mean 106; median 16.3, range 8.9-1240 ng/L), indicating the influence of specific point sources. Highly branched isomer profiles of perfluorooctanoic acid (18-25% br-PFOA) in rivers with elevated concentrations (96-352 ng/L) indicate that releases during production of PFOA by electrochemical fluorination and/or its use in fluoropolymer manufacture were the dominant sources to these rivers. The fluorinated alternatives 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonate (detection frequency 21%, < 0.1-3.1 ng/L) and chlorinated polyfluoroalkyl ether sulfonate F-53B (51%, < 0.56-78.5 ng/L) were also found in some rivers. The total Chinese riverine mass discharges of PFOA (mean 80.9; range 16.8-168 t/y) (including monitoring data from this and other studies) were in good agreement with theoretical PFOA emission estimates (17.3-203 t/y) whereas riverine mass discharges of PFOS (mean 3.6; range 1.9-5.6 t/y) could only account for a minor fraction of theoretically estimated PFOS releases (70 t/y). This study provides empirical evidence that emissions from Chinese point sources likely dominate the global emissions of several legacy PFASs (notably PFOA) and fluorinated alternatives (e.g., F-53B).
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The mean concentration of PFAS detected across all tributaries to the Yellow River was 15.5 ng/L.
“The mean concentrations of PFAS detected across all of the tributaries to the Yellow River was 15.5 ng L−1 (Wang et al., 2016).”
From Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in water and wastewater: A critical review of their global occurrence and distribution (2022) · cites this paper as Wang et al., 2016
New manufacturers largely in continental Asia have begun to produce long-chain PFCAs and their precursors.
“Although long-chain PFCAs are being incrementally phased out by the major manufacturers and to some extent are regulated in Japan, Western Europe and the United States (US) [24,25,27], new manufacturers (largely in continental Asia) have begun to produce long-chain PFCAs and their precursors [28,29].”
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- Authors
- Wang, T., Vestergren, R., Herzke, D., Yu, J., & Cousins, I. T.
- Affiliations
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Stockholm University (SE)
- The FRAM Centre (NO)
- Corresponding author
- Wang, Thanh
- Venue
- Environmental Science & Technology
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2016-10-12
- Volume
- 50
- Issue
- 21
- Pages
- 11584-11592
- ISSN
- 0013-936X (ISSN-L)
- 1520-5851
- OpenAlex
- W2527221479
- Semantic Scholar
- dc2c8bedc1ca0c838c3f2e6e483ce6f9284c2ae8
- Cited by
- 257
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 25 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 29 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 35 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 28 · 2018: 29 · 2017: 18 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 16.33
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- ir.rcees.ac.cn
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-sa
- Locations
- Environmental Science & Technology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences OpenIR (Chinese Academy of Sciences) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Funders
- Norges Forskningsråd
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances research
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Toxic Organic Pollutants Impact
- Life Sciences › Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics › Pharmaceutical Science › Fluorine in Organic Chemistry
- Keywords
- perfluoroalkyl acids, perfluorooctanoic acid, PFOS, 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonate, F-53B, point source emissions, electrochemical fluorination, Chinese rivers
- MeSH terms
- Environmental Monitoring, Isomerism, Water Pollutants, Chemical, Rivers
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