Dossier
PFAS: detection, solutions and safe alternatives
In 2021, the RIVM found that PFAS are now found everywhere in the environment: in the soil, water, air, in plants, animals and humans. In 2022, exposure to PFAS through food and drinking water in the Netherlands exceeded the safe limits set by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Long-term exposure to PFAS has been linked to hormonal imbalances, developmental problems in children, immune system problems, liver and kidney damage, raised cholesterol levels and cancer.
What are PFAS?
PFAS (Per and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances) are man-made substances with specific characteristics such as water repellency, resistance to heat, oil and fats, chemical stability, and electrical insulation. These characteristics mean that PFAS are used in a huge variety of products both in industrial settings and in the home, for everything from foam fire extinguishers to medicines, non-stick pans to reactor vessels, and raincoats to electronic components.
PFAS in environment and food chain
PFAS are potentially toxic and they barely get broken down in the environment, if at all. This means they accumulate in the environment and in living organisms, which can lead to health problems in humans and animals. PFAS compounds vary, partly in the extent to which they attach to other substances: some PFAS are more water-soluble, others more fat-soluble. These kinds of properties determine how the substance spreads through the environment, where it accumulates, and how it moves through the food chain. Wageningen researchers are studying the extent to which PFAS is present in water and water bottoms, can be taken up and passed on in benthic animals and fish, and the extent to which it accumulates in birds, mammals or humans. The current and previous studies in the Westerschelde are an example of this.
Growing need for alternatives
The European Commission currently works on the regulation of PFAS, which have been designated as substances of very high concern (SVHC). Alongside these regulatory changes, there’s also growing public pressure to come up with alternatives. Producers of PFAS or of products that contain PFAS will need to find safe alternatives. But right now, few alternatives are available. Part of the issue is that there are thousands of different types of PFAS, with a variety of different chemical characteristics and degrees of toxicity.
Besides PFAS detection and monitoring, Wageningen University & Research (WUR) conducts research into safe alternatives and sustainable ways to clean up current PFAS pollution. In doing so, we have identified three focus areas:
Detecting and monitoring PFAS
PFAS have been on the market for more than 50 years and they find their way
into the environment through industrial emissions, waste processing and the use
of products that contain the substances. We know that they can be spread
through the air, soil and surface water.
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Reducing PFAS pollution
PFAS contain very strong carbon-fluorine bonds, and it’s these that account for their strong performance as materials, but also prevent them from being easily broken down. This is what makes it difficult to clear up PFAS pollution.
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Sustainable and safe alternatives to PFAS
The development of alternatives to PFAS isn’t straightforward because there are so many types of PFAS, each with their own unique functionality and a combination of characteristics not found in nature. People have also become accustomed to the functionalities offered by products containing PFAS, so they expect any alternatives to perform in a similar way, whether it’s a household or industrial product.
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Wageningen University & Research is providing support to the industrial sector for the development of renewable products that are non-hazardous as well as biodegradable and/or recyclable through mechanical, biocatalytic or chemical methods.
WUR is working on this in accordance with the ‘safe and sustainable by design’ principles. These principles call for circularity, safety and health to be embedded in product development from the start and throughout the design process. In practice this might include pre-screening for toxicity, and using artificial intelligence for modelling and predicting functionality. This results in products and processes that are safer for both people and the environment.
For a significant proportion of products that currently contain PFAS, there still aren’t any substitutes available that don’t compromise on quality. Over the next four years, as part of the forthcoming TOSS project – funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) – we will be working with a variety of partners from universities, the government and industry on the biobased production of alternatives to PFAS, such as the microbiological production of lanoline (wool fat).
Projects
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Call for Partners | The monitoring, breakdown and removal of PFAS in (waste) water
- Treated wastewater is frequently regarded as a valuable resource, especially for purposes like agricultural irrigation or reuse. However, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) often encounter challenges in eliminating persistent compounds, such as Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and pharmaceutical residues.
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MEDALE: medicine degradation by adaptive laboratory evolution
- Many useful and advanced molecules such as PFAS, organic solvents and hormones are currently used for a wide variety of applications. At the end of their service life, these components end up in surface- or ground waters and in this way may accumulate in food crops. Some of them show hardly any biodegradation in the aquatic environment and accumulate in the environment or even worse in the human body (e.g. for PFAS). -
Monitoring contaminants in Dutch fish and fishery products
- For a more accurate estimation of the food safety of fish and fishery products based on levels of dioxins and heavy metals (including mercury, lead, cadmium and arsenic), accurate data must be available. -
PFAS sorption to reactive soil components
- As excellent surfactants, Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been widely used. In recent years, PFAS has attracted global attention because of their biotoxicity and ubiquity. Soil is an important storage and transport medium for PFAS. The behaviour of PFAS in soil is not yet well understood. In this research, the adsorption of PFAS on reactive soil components will be studied, for which corresponding mechanistic models will be developed to describe the chemical speciation and solid/liquid distribution of PFAS. -
Towards Mechanistic Understanding of the Interactions Between Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances and Adsorption Materials in Drinking Water Treatment
- Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a family of anthropogenic micropollutants. They have been found in many water bodies, including drinking water sources. This is a problem since even at low concentrations, PFAS pose a risk to human health. Because of that, technologies for their removal during drinking water treatment are developed, and the current benchmark technology is adsorption. However, many physical and chemical interactions between PFAS and the adsorption materials are mechanistically not understood, and a better understanding can contribute to the development of the technology and a reduction of operational costs. -
Assessing the fate of contaminants of emerging concern in effluents during irrigation
- During drought periods, treated effluents can be a stable water supply for a more climate-resilient agricultural sector, to protect crop production and groundwater reservoirs. In the Netherlands, the focus is on reuse of the water, to either use it as irrigation water for agriculture and/or horticulture, nature conservation i.e. supplying water to drought endangered brooks and creeks, or for groundwater reservoir preservation by artificial recharge. Internationally, treated effluents are considered to be used as irrigation water in even a wider variety of applications, i.e. for non-food crop production and land greening programs in deserts or even for foodcrop related irrigation in fresh water-stressed delta’s. In all the situations we miss the knowledge on what is happening on the chemical interaction at the contaminants of emerging concern (CEC) (e.g. pharmaceuticals , PFAS) side and the soil side after irrigation. Therefore, we will focus on the reuse of water (treated effluent) and fate of CEC compounds.