The Four Grand Challenges of PFAS Testing
Tarun Anumol discusses the major challenges facing PFAS testing at this year’s ASMS conference.
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The American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) conference is an opportunity for scientists, academics, students and other interested parties to come together and learn about the new innovations taking place in the mass spectrometry (MS) science sector.
But it is also a place where scientists can discuss the challenges facing their various fields, in the hopes of finding new strategies to overcome them.
At this year’s ASMS, Technology Networks had the pleasure of meeting with Tarun Anumol, Global Environment Market Director at Agilent Technologies, to hear about the challenges involved with PFAS testing and learn more about the emerging trends and solutions being developed to tackle this issue.
Recognizing the wide scope of PFAS
PFAS, also sometimes dubbed the “Forever Chemicals” due to their exceptionally long half-lives, are a growing environmental concern. Their extreme persistence in the natural environment combined with their association to potential adverse health effects requires that their presence is rigorously monitored. With proper monitoring, scientists can help to mitigate their impact on local ecosystems and the wider environment. However, in practical terms, doing this kind of PFAS monitoring still poses significant challenges for environmental analysts.
“I like to divide this into four “Grand Challenges,” as I call them,” Anumol said. “The first challenge with PFAS is that we just don't know how many PFAS are out there. How can you manage an issue that you can't even grasp your hands around?”
The CompTox database, maintained by the US Environmental Protection Agency, currently lists nearly 15,000 unique PFAS in its chemical structure listings. However, there are other estimates in the scientific literature that put the number of PFAS compounds closer to 7 million, depending on the definition used for what counts as a PFAS entity.
From an environmental testing perspective, this can be overwhelming. Although workflows are being developed to help scientists with advancing PFAS identification, as Anumol points out.
“This is where some of the workflows that we've been developing and working with collaborators on come in,” he said. “Last year, we released our Revident LC/Q-TOF, and the goal there with the workflows we've been pushing is so that we can increase the scope and identification of the number of PFAS. Only once we identify them can we start to determine, how to the toxicity testing.”
“From a regulatory perspective now, even with the regulations evolving, we're only touching about 2% of the PFSs that we know are in the environment,” Anumol added.
Being vigilant against PFAS contamination
The extreme environmental persistence of PFAS has led to these compounds being spread all over the globe. This ubiquitous nature of the compounds is also something that must be considered in environmental testing.
“I think the second Grand Challenge is that PFAS are everywhere – we all have PFAS in us. So what is really critical is that we need to make sure that when we are providing testing solutions, they are as reliable and accurate as possible, and we're not introducing PFAS from anywhere,” Anumol said.
“What we've done over the last 5-6 years is now every single instrument that we use for PFAS – whether it be the mass spectrometers, or liquid chromatographs, or even consumables – at the factory, we go through and make sure they don't have PFAS. But we also make sure that we are using non-fluoropolymer materials so that we are really confident that we are not causing or contributing to those effects.”
Using a workflow that is fit for purpose
Being vigilant against introducing PFAS to the environmental testing workflow is one challenge. But with the uniquity of these compounds, Anumol recognizes that there is also a need to consider the impact of these compounds in other areas of science, beyond purely environmental analysis. PFAS testing and analysis needs to reflect the true scope of the use cases these compounds have.
“I used to get these 10-dollar shirts because I loved them, they were non-iron and water just flew right off,” Anumol recalled, pointing at his shirt collar. “No wonder they weren’t going to crumple, because they were loaded with PFAS!”
“The third concern is that PFAS started off as an environmental problem, but what we are realizing now is that it's present in our food, it’s present in our materials, in our consumer products,” Anumol explained. “So one of the areas that we've really started to move into is providing workflows in the food testing market, in textiles and consumer products and things of that nature.”
Creating sensitive testing solutions
While a desire for improved sensitivity is not a feeling that is unique to PFAS monitoring and environmental analysis, this does not make it any less important.
“The fourth real big challenge is sensitivity,” Anumol said. “I gave this example yesterday – what we're measuring is one drop of water in five Olympic-sized swimming pools.”
Instrument suppliers play an important role here, developing instruments with extremely high levels of sensitivity that are capable of measuring the presence of PFAS down to just 1 nanogram per liter. Providing cohesive workflows, consumables, standards and other services can also help to ensure that PFAS testing is being conducted in ways that maximize sensitivity. But Anumol also speaks to the importance of ensuring that these kinds of testing solutions remain accessible.
“A lot of these customers doing PFAS testing, they don’t have a PhD in mass spectrometry,” he said. “This is someone in a textiles lab, a manufacturing lab or a food safety lab. They were not born and brought up running LC/MS instruments. They have to do seven other job responsibilities in addition to running the instrument as well. So really, what we want to do is get them from sample to result as quickly as possible, but make that as accurate and reliable as well.”
About the interviewee:
Tarun Anumol is the Global Environment Market Director at Agilent Technologies. His areas of specialization include water treatment, environmental monitoring, and advanced analytical chemistry. Before joining Agilent, Tarun earned his PhD in Chemical & Environmental Engineering from the University of Arizona.
