Issue 10, 2024

Chemical transformation, exposure assessment, and policy implications of fluorotelomer alcohol partitioning from consumer products to the indoor and outdoor environment—from production to end-of-life

Abstract

Fluorotelomer (FT) alcohols (FTOHs) belong to the subclass of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and are used as building blocks of FT-based side chain fluorinated polymers (SCFPs), which are applied to consumer products to provide hydro- and oleophobic characteristics. FTOHs are consistently detected in consumer products, indicating FTOHs as major degradation products of FT-based SCFPs. Literature on FTOHs indicates that much is known about the release of FTOHs during the production, throughout the lifetime, and at the end-of-life of consumer products. This Perspective combines information from FTOHs in consumer products with sufficient knowledge on FTOH volatility, partitioning to the gas phase, and transformation to perfluorocarboxylates (PFCAs) to understand the extent of FTOH release to the environment. In the indoor environment, FTOHs are released in textile factories to the air during the production of consumer products, indicating a potential inhalation risk for the workers. Meanwhile, indoor air FTOH levels at residential sites are estimated to pose low inhalation risk to humans based on studies of 8:2 FTOH, which is known to undergo human metabolism to perfluorooctanoate (PFOA). Release of FTOHs from FT-based SCFP-applied consumer products to the indoor environment throughout the lifetime of the products is known, as well as release to the outdoor environment through washing, weathering, or drying. At the end-of-life of consumer products, FTOHs are released to air from landfills and can be detected in biosolids. Future policies need to not only account for FTOH presence in consumer products, but also the known FTOH volatility, partitioning to the gas phase, and transformation to PFCAs.

Graphical abstract: Chemical transformation, exposure assessment, and policy implications of fluorotelomer alcohol partitioning from consumer products to the indoor and outdoor environment—from production to end-of-life

Article information

Article type
Perspective
Submitted
25 1月 2024
Accepted
26 7月 2024
First published
07 8月 2024
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Environ. Sci.: Adv., 2024,3, 1364-1384

Chemical transformation, exposure assessment, and policy implications of fluorotelomer alcohol partitioning from consumer products to the indoor and outdoor environment—from production to end-of-life

I. A. Titaley, Environ. Sci.: Adv., 2024, 3, 1364 DOI: 10.1039/D4VA00019F

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements