Preliminary investigation of the presence of PFOS and PFOA in water and sediment in Cau river

Abstract

Perfluoro-octane sulfonate (PFOS) and Perfluoro-octanoic acid (PFOA) are recognised as emerging environmental pollutants because of their high persistence in various environmental matrices and toxic effects on humans and animals. The objectives of this study were to preliminarily investigate the occurrence of PFOS and PFOA in the water and sediment of the Cau river in Thai Nguyen city. The concentration of PFOS and PFOA in water ranged from <LOQ-0.67 ng/l and 0.05-8.11 ng/l; 1.19-4.73 ng/g, and 0.17-1.78 ng/g in sediment, respectively. The highest total concentrations of PFOS and PFOAwere recorded in the areas that directly received wastewater from domestic and industrial activities. The water-sediment distribution coefficient (K_d) was relatively different for PFOS and PFOA, with K_d ranged from 20.51-72.83 l/g and 1.21-20.31 l/g for PFOS and PFOA, respectively. This result suggested the distribution of PFOS and PFOA between water and sediment, in which PFOS will preferentially deposit in the sediment, and PFOA will tend to distribute in the liquid phase of the aquatic environment.