Determination of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Craft Villages and Industrial Environments of Vietnam

Abstract

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have attracted great concern because of their great recalcitrant nature and harmful environmental health effects. Eight PFASs in wastewater from craft villages and industrial environments of Vietnam were analyzed using liquid chromatography triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) with negative electrospray ionization interface. For analysis of PFASs, percent recoveries ranged from 87 to 112, and MQL varied from 0.19 ng/L to 0.49 ng/L. Treated wastewater samples from eight metal-plating and eight textile-dyeing factories were collected for analysis of PFASs. Concentrations of PFOS in wastewater samples obtained from metal-plating factories with decorative plating stage were found at a range of 0.73–18.91 ng/L. For textile-dyeing factories, PFOA and/or PFHxA, which were present in all effluent wastewater samples, varied from 0.37 to 15.96 ng/L and 1.07 to 43.58 ng/L, respectively. Sixty surface water samples in four locations of the textile dyeing craft villages, a recycling plastic village, a paper recycling village, and 10 river water samples in the control area (a rural area without specific waste sources) were collected and analyzed for PFASs. The total concentrations of eight PFASs in surface water samples of craft villages ranged from 0.83 to 58.2 ng/L, which were significantly higher than those in the control area. PFOA, PFHxA, and PFOS are the three most dominant congeners in wastewater taken from craft villages with the highest concentrations of 27.4, 23.8, and 7.36 ng/L, respectively. The environmental risks posed by PFASs in surface water from craft villages were mainly in a range of extremely low to low level, particularly a few points have high ecological risks of PFDoA.