A new-revenue opportunity, not yet widely offered locally.
Designed to help laboratories beginning to develop PFAS testing capability get there faster.
"Forever chemicals."
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are a family of man-made chemicals characterised by extremely stable carbon-fluorine bonds. They are persistent in the environment and found in industrial and consumer products, firefighting foam, non-stick coatings and water-resistant textiles.
EPA Method 1633/1633A covers 40 PFAS compounds across wastewater, surface water, groundwater, soil, biosolids, sediment, landfill leachate and tissue. Regulatory limits are tightening globally — the EU, UK and USA all have active or proposed limits — and South African commercial laboratories serving multinational clients and export supply chains are increasingly required to provide PFAS data.
PFAS analysis by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) requires an extraction step to isolate PFAS from complex environmental matrices before instrumental analysis. EPA 1633A specifies the extraction conditions.
EDGE for PFAS. CEM's EDGE automated solvent extraction system has been evaluated against EPA Method 1633A and is positioned as the recommended extraction platform for PFAS sample preparation. CEM publishes the evaluation data and runs webinars on this workflow.