Abstract
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are a class of highly fluorinated aliphatic compounds that are persistent and bioaccumulate, posing a potential threat to the aquatic environment. The electroplating industry is considered to be an important source of PFASs. Due to emerging PFASs and many alternatives, the acute toxicity data for PFASs and their alternatives are relatively limited. In this study, a QSAR–ICE–SSD composite model was constructed by combining quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR), interspecies correlation estimation (ICE), and species sensitivity distribution (SSD) models in order to obtain the predicted no-effect concentrations (PNECs) of selected PFASs. The PNECs for the selected PFASs ranged from 0.254 to 6.27 mg/L. The ΣPFAS concentrations ranged from 177 to 983 ng/L in a river close to an electroplating industry in Shenzhen. The ecological risks associated with PFASs in the river were below 2.97 × 10−4.
Highlights
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) consist of carbon chains of different lengths where the hydrogen atoms are completely or partly substituted by fluorine atoms
Our previous study investigated the concentrations of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) in the effluent of a sewage treatment plant in Beijing, which were found to be 29.9–71.5 ng/L and 60.1–233 ng/L, respectively [20]. These results indicated that the activated sludge process could not effectively remove PFOA and PFOS
The objectives of this study are (1) to construct quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR)–interspecies correlation estimation (ICE)–sensitivity distribution (SSD) models to predict the predicted no-effect concentrations (PNECs) of PFASs and their alternatives and (2) to assess the ecological risk of PFASs in a river near electroplating factories
Summary
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) consist of carbon chains of different lengths where the hydrogen atoms are completely (perfluorinated) or partly (polyfluorinated) substituted by fluorine atoms. Due to the toxic effects, tissue accumulation, long-range transport, and environmental persistence of PFASs, perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) was listed under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Chemicals and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) was being considered for listing by 2017 [2]. An ecological risk assessment (ERA) aims to qualitatively or quantitatively describe the possibility that adverse ecological effects occur because of exposure to one or more stressors (e.g., chemical substances) [3]. The predicted no-effect concentration (PNEC) is expressed as the lowest concentration of adverse effects in an ecosystem of a given chemical substance [6]. To reduce the uncertainty associated with an ERA, the species sensitivity distribution (SSD) method is widely used to derive the PNEC [7,8]
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