An assessment of the potential for leaching of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances from fluorinated and non-fluorinated high-density polyethylene containers

Abstract

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have garnered world-wide attention over the last two decades due to their extreme environmental persistence and potential adverse health effects. Research is ongoing as to where, and in what quantities, PFAS can be found in commercial, and consumer goods. During 2021, a study described detecting PFAS in a commercially available insecticide; however, further study clarified that the source of PFAS was not actually from the insecticide product, but rather the fluorinated high-density polyethylene (fHDPE) container in which the insecticide resided. As several fluorination technologies associated with fHDPE manufacturers are available, the work described herein was conducted to determine the potential leaching of PFAS from the various fluorinated container technologies. Three fluorination technology container types, including advanced in-mold fluorination, post-mold fluorination, and post-mold plasma fluorination; and two non-fluorinated negative control, were subject to extended methanol soaking periods. During these soak periods, aliquots of methanol were removed and analyzed for 19 target PFAS compounds. For the advanced in-mold fluorination technology, at each of the residence period, showed no detectable PFAS at the analytical instruments limit of quantification (LOQ) of 10 ng/L (20 ng/L for GenX). In contrast, several PFAS compounds were detected above LOQ in the alternative fluorination technologies, ranging from 11 - 9700 ng/L in methanol, throughout the entirety of the residence periods.