Ultrashort PFAS in water

In addition to "ordinary longer" PFAS such as PFOS and PFOA, there are also so-called ultrashort PFAS. These are usually characterized by having one to three carbon atoms. Taking the two most common groups of PFAS structures, perfluorocarboxylic and -sulfonic acids, this means that there are five ultra-short compounds; trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), perfluoropropionic acid (PFPrA), trifluoromethanesulfonic acid (TFMS; triflic acid), perfluoroethanesulfonic acid (PFEtS) and perfluoropropanesulfonic acid (PFPrS). These substances can have several sources and occur as degradation products and contaminants or are manufactured for other purposes, e.g. as industrial chemicals. Ultrashort PFAS are receiving more and more attention and a growing number of reports show that they can be found everywhere in the environment, especially in water, including drinking water. TFA has in recent years been given guideline values for drinking water in DK and DE. The compound has also received an RPF factor in the Dutch recommendation for drinking water and should be taken into account in the weighted sum of PFOA equivalents.

In 2023 Eurofins performed a study of Swedish and Norwegian drinking waters. TFA (70-720 ng/l) could be identified in all samples and TFMS in some. TFA could potentially make significant contributions both to “PFAS total” (500 ng/l) in the drinking water directive and in summations of PFOA equivalents according to RIVM (NL). Read more and download the report here.

Eurofins has introduced, as first major laboratory, analysis of ultrashort PFAS in water. The package code is PLW98 and 2x100ml is required. Read more on our website.