CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 78Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances researchAtmospheric chemistry and aerosolsAtmospheric Ozone and Climate

A global atmospheric chemistry model for the fate and transport of PFCAs and their precursors

Open access
Thackray, Colin P., Selin, Noelle E., Young, Cora J.·2020·Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts
DOI 10.1039/c9em00326fPMC PMC7050637
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

Perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs) are environmental contaminants that are highly persistent, and many are bio-accumulative and have been detected along with their atmospheric precursors far from emission sources. The overall importance of precursor emissions as an indirect source of PFCAs to the environment is uncertain. Previous studies have estimated the atmospheric source of PFCAs using models and degradation pathways of differing complexities, leading to quantitatively different results. We present results from simulations of atmospheric PFCA formation and fate using the chemical transport model GEOS-Chem. We simulate the most up-to-date chemistry available to our knowledge for the degradation of the precursors fluorotelomer alcohol (FTOH), fluorotelomer olefin (FTO), and fluorotelomer iodide (FTI), as well as the deposition and transport of the precursors, intermediates and end-products of the formation chemistry. We calculate yields of C3-C13 PFCAs formed from 4 : 2 to 12 : 2 fluorotelomer precursors and their deposition to the surface. We find that the ratio of long-chain to short-chain PFCAs increases strongly with distance from source regions. We compare our model results to remote deposition measurements and mid-latitude rainwater measurements. The model captures the observed relationship between rainwater abundance and PFCA chain length, as well as the average deposition rates at mid-latitude and Arctic sites, but underestimates the deposition of PFDoA, PFDA, and TFA at mid-latitudes and PFNA at the Devon Ice Cap. We provide estimates of cumulative PFCA deposition globally. We find that given the most recent emission inventory, the atmospheric source of PFCAs is 6-185 tonnes per year globally and 0.1-2.1 tonnes per year to the Arctic.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1039/c9em00326f

Cites

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • PFASs are carried through the atmosphere in both gas and particle forms, enabling their transport over long distances from their initial sources.

    “PFASs are carried through the atmosphere in both gas and particle forms, enabling their transport over long distances from their initial sources [96,97].”

    From Industrial Applications, Environmental Fate, Human Exposure, and Health Effects of PFAS (2025) · cites this paper as [97]

    The Introduction says PFCAs and their precursors have been detected far from emission sources, and the Discussion distinguishes particle-bound PFCAs from gas-phase PFCAs. But the model does not resolve particle partitioning, so the paper does not establish that transport in both forms enables long-distance movement of PFASs generally. The Discussion also says particle association becomes important particularly for long-chain PFCAs. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet

References 54 · Cited by 78

Research works printed but not linked: 54

  1. [1]Wang Z, Cousins IT, Scheringer M, Buck RC and Hungerbuhler K, Environment International, 2014, 70, 62– 75. 24932785
  2. [2]Martin JW, Mabury SA, Solomon KR and Muir DCG, Environ. Toxicol. Chem, 2003, 22, 189– 195. 12503764
  3. [3]Martin JW, Mabury SA, Solomon KR and Muir DCG, Environ. Toxicol. Chem, 2003, 22, 196– 204. 12503765
  4. [4]Conder JM, Hoke RA, de Wolf W, Russell MH and Buck RC, Environ. Sci. Technol, 2008, 42, 995– 1003. 18351063
  5. [5]Young CJ, Furdui VI, Franklin J, Koerner RM, Muir DCG and Mabury SA, Environ. Sci. Technol, 2007, 41, 3455– 3461. 17547163
  6. [6]Shoeib M, Harner T and Vlahos P, Environ. Sci. Technol, 2006, 40, 7577– 7583. 17256497
  7. [7]Stock NL, Furdui VI, Muir DCG and Mabury SA, Environ. Sci. Technol, 2007, 41, 3529– 3536. 17547174
  8. [8]Xie Z, Wang Z, Mi W, Moller A, Wolschke H and Ebinghaus R, Scientific Reports, 2015, 5, year. PMC4352854 25746440
  9. [9]Scott BF, Spencer C, Mabury SA and Muir DCG, Environ. Sci. Technol, 2006, 40, 7167– 7174. 17180963
  10. [10]Houde M, Martin JW, Letcher RJ, Solomon KR and Muir DCG, Environ. Sci. Technol, 2006, 40, 3463– 3473. 16786681
  11. [11]Ellis DA, Martin JW, Mabury SA, Hurley MD, Andersen MPS and Wallington TJ, Environ. Sci. Technol, 2003, 37, 3816– 3820. 12967100
  12. [12]Young CJ and Mabury SA, Reviews of environmental contamination and toxicology, 2010, 208, 1– 109. 20811862
  13. [13]Waterland RL and Dobbs KD, J. Phys. Chem. A, 2007, 111, 2555– 2562. 17388359
  14. [14]Chiappero MS, Malanca FE, Arguello GA, Wooldridge ST, Hurley MD, Ball JC, Wallington TJ, Waterland RL and Buck RC, J. Phys. Chem. A, 2006, 110, 11944– 11953. 17064182
  15. [15]Yarwood G, Kemball-Cook S, Keinath M, Waterland RL, Korzeniowski SH, Buck RC, Russell MH and Washburn ST, Environ. Sci. Technol, 2007, 41, 5756– 5762. 17874783
  16. [16]Thackray CP and Selin NE, Atmos. Chem. Phys, 2017, 17, 4585– 4597.
  17. [17]Vierke L, Staude C, Biegel-Engler A, Drost W and Schulte C, Environmental Sciences Europe, 2012, 24, 1– 11. PMC5834591 29527446
  18. [18]Wallington TJ, Hurley MD, Xia J, Wuebbles DJ, Sillman S, Ito A, Penner JE, Ellis DA, Martin J, Mabury SA, Nielsen OJ and Andersen MPS, Environ. Sci. Technol, 2006, 40, 924– 930. 16509338
  19. [19]Wang Z, Cousins IT, Scheringer M, Buck RC and Hungerbuhler K, Environment International, 2014, 69, 166– 176. 24861268
  20. [20]Young CJ, Hurley MD, Wallington TJ and Mabury SA, J. Phys. Chem. A, 2008, 112, 13542– 13548. 19053571
  21. [21]Butt CM, Young CJ, Mabury SA, Hurley MD and Wallington TJ, J. Phys. Chem. A, 2009, 113, 3155– 3161. 19275140
  22. [22]Schenker U, Scheringer M, Macleod M, Martin JW, Cousins IT and Hungerbuhler K, Environ. Sci. Technol, 2008, 42, 3710– 3716. 18546712
  23. [23]Bey I, Jacob DJ, Yantosca RM, Logan JA, Field B, Fiore AM, Li Q, Liu H, Mickley LJ and Schultz M, J. Geophys. Res, 2001, 106, 23073– 23096.
  24. [25]Liu H, Jacob DJ, Bey I and Yantosca RM, J. Geosphys. Res, 2001, 106, 12109– 12128.
  25. [26]Wang Y, Jacob DJ and Logan JA, J. Geophys. Res, 1998, 103, 10713– 10726.
  26. [27]Prevedouros K, Cousins IT, Buck RC and Korzeniowski SH, Environ. Sci. Technol, 2006, 40, 32– 44. 16433330
  27. [28]Arp HP, Niederer C and Goss K-U, Environmental Science and Technology, 2006, 40, 7298– 7304. 17180981
  28. [29]Stemmler I and Lammel G, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2010, 10, 9965– 9980.
  29. [30]Johansson J, Salter M, Navarro JA, Leck C, Nilsson E and Cousins I, Environ. Sci.: Processes and Impacts, 2019, 21, 635– 649. 30888351
  30. [31]Pickard HM, Criscitiello AS, Spencer C, Sharp MJ, Muir DCG, Silva AOD and Young CJ, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2018, 18, 5045– 5058.
  31. [32]Kwok K, Taniyasu S, Yeung L, Murphy M, Lam P, Horii Y, Kannan K, Petrick G, Sinha R and Yamashita N, Environ. Sci. Technol, 2010, 44, 7043– 7049. 20795671
  32. [33]Kirchgeorg T, Dreyer A, Gabrieli J, Kehrwald N, Sigl M, Schwikowski M, Boutron C, Gambaro A, Barbante C and Ebinghaus R, Environ. Pollut, 2013, 178, 367– 374. 23607941
  33. [34]Barton C, Kaiser M and Russell M, J. Environ. Monitor, 2007, 9, 839– 846. 17671665
  34. [35]Kim S-K and Kannan K, Environ. Sci. Technol, 2007, 41, 8328– 8334. 18200859
  35. [36]Loos R, Wollgast J, Huber T and Hanke G, Anal. Bioanal. Chem, 2007, 387, 1469– 1478. 17200857
  36. [37]Taniyasu S, Kannan K, Yeung L, Kwok K, Lam P and Yamashita N, Anal. Chem. Acta, 2008, 619, 221– 230. 18558116
  37. [38]Liu W, Dong G, Jin Y, Sasaki K, Saito N, Sato I, Tsuda S and Nakayama S, Chin. Sci. Bull, 2009, 54, 2440– 2445.
  38. [39]Liu W, Jin Y, Quan X, Sasaki K, Saito N, Nakayama S, Sato I and Tsuda S, Environ. International, 2009, 35, 737– 742. 19278728
  39. [40]Mahmoud M, Karrman A, Oono S, Harada K and Koizumi A, Chemosphere, 2009, 74, 467– 472. 19081600
  40. [41]Murakami M, Shinohara H and Takada H, Chemosphere, 2009, 74, 487– 493. 19054542
  41. [42]Dreyer A, Matthias V, Weinberg I and Ebinghaus R, Environ. Pollut, 2010, 158, 1221– 1227. 20185217
  42. [43]Scott B, Silva AD, Spencer C, Lopez E, Backus S and Muir D, J. Great Lakes Res, 2010, 36, 277– 284.
  43. [44]Zhang X, Niu H, Pan Y, Shi Y and Cai Y, Anal. Chem, 2010, 82, 2363– 2371. 20155948
  44. [45]Meyer T, Silva AD, Spencer C and Wania F, Environ. Sci. Technol, 2011, 45, 8113– 8119. 21692458
  45. [46]Muller C, Spiess N, Gerecke A, Scheringer M and Hungerbuhler K, Environ. Sci. Technol, 2011, 45, 9901– 9909. 22035097
  46. [47]Nguyen V, Reinhard M and Karina G-H, Chemosphere, 2011, 82, 1277– 1285. 21208640
  47. [48]Nishikoori H, Murakami M, Sakai H, Oguma K, Takada H and Takizawa S, Chemosphere, 2011, 84, 1125– 1132. 21546052
  48. [49]Zhao X, Cai Y, Wu F, Pan Y, Liao H and Xu B, Microchem. J, 2011, 2011, 98.
  49. [50]Thackray CP, Friedman CL, Zhang Y and Selin NE, Environ. Sci. Technol, 2015, 49, 9185– 9193. 26110215 PMC4786340
  50. [51]Chen Y-H and Prinn RG, Journal of Geosphysical Research, 2006, 111, D10307.
  51. [52]Li L, Liu J, Hu J and Wania F, Environ. Sci. Technol, 2017, 51, 4461– 4470. 28301932
  52. [53]Washington J, Rankin K, Libelo E, Lynch D, and Cyterski M, Sci. Total Environ, 2019, 651, 2444– 2449. 30336434 PMC7957346
  53. [54]Wania F, Environ. Sci. Technol, 2007, 41, 4529– 4535. 17695892
  54. [55]Ahrens L, Harner T, Shoeib M, Lane DA and Murphy JG, Environmental Science and Technology, 2012, 46, 7199– 7206. 22606993

Authors
Thackray, C. P., Selin, N. E., & Young, C. J.
Affiliations
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
  • York University (CA)
Corresponding author
Thackray, Colin P.
ORCID
Venue
Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts
Publisher
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
Published
2020
Volume
22
Issue
2
Pages
285-293
ISSN
  • 2050-7887 (ISSN-L)
  • 2050-7895
DOI
10.1039/c9em00326f
PMC
PMC7050637
OpenAlex
W2998285627
Cited by
78
References
54
Citations by year
2026: 14 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 1
FWCI
2.50
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Environmental Science Processes & Impacts (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation (1203526)
  • National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (3P42ES027707-03S1)
  • Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances research
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Atmospheric Ozone and Climate
Keywords
perfluorocarboxylic acids, fluorotelomer alcohols, atmospheric transport, atmospheric deposition, GEOS-Chem
MeSH terms
Air Movements, Arctic Regions, Carboxylic Acids, Fluorocarbons, Models, Chemical

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review