A pilot study on analytical method development and measurement of fluorinated active ingredient of Scotchgard and its levels in sludge and landfill leachate from Sweden

A recent study measured two newly identified fluorinated side-chain copolymers in aquatic sediment and biosolid-augmented agricultural soil from the Great Lakes basin of North America. Our recent studies indicated that identifiable perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs, a total number of 75 PFASs) only accounted for 6 – 21% and 18 - 58% of the extractable organofluorine (EOF) in sewage water and sludge samples collected in 2016, respectively, which indicated that huge amounts of orgranofluorine remained unidentified. These newly identified fluorinated side-chain copolymers were not measured in previous studies, and they may also be present in the Swedish Environment. In view of this, analytical method will be developed and optimized for measuring two newly identified fluorinated side-chain copolymers in landfill leachate and sludge samples to evaluate if these newly identified fluorinated side-chain copolymers may explain the unidentified organofluorine in these samples.