USEPA , National Exposure Research Laboratory, 960 College Station Road, Athens, Georgia 30605-2700, United States.
USEPA , Senior Environmental Employment Program, Athens, Georgia 30605-2700, United States.
Environ Sci Technol. 2015 Dec 15;49(24):14129-35. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.5b03686. Epub 2015 Nov 24.
Fluorotelomer-based polymers (FTPs) are the main product of the fluorotelomer industry. For nearly 10 years, whether FTPs degrade to form perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) and perfluorocarboxylate (PFCA) homologues has been vigorously contested. Here we show that circum-neutral abiotic hydrolysis of a commercial FTP proceeds with half-life estimates of 55-89 years and that base-mediated hydrolysis overtakes neutral hydrolysis at about pH = 10, with a half-life of ~0.7 years at pH ∼ 12. Considered in light of the large production volume of FTPs and the poor efficacy of conventional treatments for recovery of PFCAs from waste streams, these results suggest that FTPs manufactured to date potentially could increase PFCAs 4- to 8-fold over current oceanic loads, largely depending on the integrity of disposal units to contain PFCAs upon hydrolytic generation from FTPs.
含氟聚合物（FTPs）是氟调聚物工业的主要产品。近 10 年来，FTPs 是否会降解形成全氟辛酸（PFOA）和全氟羧酸（PFCA）同系物一直存在激烈争议。在这里，我们表明中性条件下商业 FTP 的非生物水解半衰期估计为 55-89 年，并且在 pH 值约为 10 时，碱基介导的水解超过中性水解，在 pH 值约为 12 时半衰期约为 0.7 年。考虑到 FTPs 的大量生产以及从废水中回收 PFCAs 的常规处理方法效果不佳，这些结果表明，迄今为止制造的 FTPs 可能会使 PFCAs 的含量增加 4 到 8 倍，这在很大程度上取决于处置装置的完整性，以防止在 FTPs 水解生成 PFCAs 时泄漏。
