Abstract
A framework for characterizing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) is proposed. Thousands of PFASs are used worldwide, with special properties imparted by the fluorinated alkyl chain. Our framework makes it possible to characterize a large part of the family of PFASs by introducing transformation fractions that translate emissions of primary emitted PFASs into the highly persistent terminal degradation products: the perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs). Using a PFAA-adapted characterization model, human toxicity as well as marine and freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity characterization factors are calculated for three PFAAs, namely perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA) and perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS). The model is evaluated to adequately capture long-term fate, where PFAAs are predicted to accumulate in open oceans. The characterization factors of the three PFAAs are ranked among the top 5% for marine ecotoxicity, when compared to 3104 chemicals in the existing USEtox results databases. Uncertainty analysis indicates potential for equally high ranks for human health impacts. Data availability constitutes an important limitation creating uncertainties. Even so, a life cycle assessment (LCA) case study illustrates practical application of our proposed framework, demonstrating that even low emissions of PFASs can have large effects on LCA results.
Highlights
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is an ISO-standardized decisionsupport tool for quantification of potential environmental and human health impacts of goods or services along their entire life cycles
perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs) with uneven perfluorinated carbons (e.g., perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) with seven perfluorinated carbons) and perfluoroalkanesulfonic acid (PFSA) with even perfluorinated carbons (e.g., perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS) with four perfluorinated carbons) were used as proxies for all perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) generated by degradation of the primary pollutant
The PFAA characterization factors (CFs) were compared to CFs obtained with the USEtox organic and inorganic substances databases (Figure 2)
Summary
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is an ISO-standardized decisionsupport tool for quantification of potential environmental and human health impacts of goods or services along their entire life cycles. In the LCIA phase, these inventory flows are multiplied by substance-specific impact characterization factors (CFs) to estimate aggregated burden indicators. These LCIA indicators should cover all relevant impacts, such as global warming, eutrophication, acidification, and ecotoxicity and toxicity. This broad coverage makes LCA a valuable tool for identification of potential problem shifting in comparative studies of two product or service systems providing the same function, as well as in single system studies for optimization of its environmental performance
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