EnviroMail™ 126 - Total Organic Fluorine for Compliance with QLD Waste Disposal Guideline ERA 60

The ERA 60 guideline limits are provided below together with the current ALS limits of reporting (LOR). ALS LORs provide a considerable safety margin to ensure compliance with the stated limits for soils and landfill leachate not reused on or offsite. ALS is working to refine methodology to provide lower limits of reporting to also meet the limit for reuse of landfill leachate (0.0003mg/L).

Maximum total contaminant levels in soils as cover material

		MCL (mg/kg)		ALS LOR (mg/kg)
TFOC (not including PFOS & PFOA)		10		1

 

Allowable Leaching Contaminant Levels

		Clay Lined (mg/L)		MCL Double Lined (mg/L)		ALS LOR (mg/L)
TFOC (not reused on/off-site)		0.05		0.05		0.02
TFOC (reused on/off-site)		0.0003		0.0003		In development

 

Note, ERA 60 uses the term Total Fluorinated Organic Compounds (TFOC). This is equivalent to Total Organic Fluorine (TOF), noting that the concentration for TOF is expressed as fluorine.

ALS offers two packages to accommodate the scenarios detailed above; a comprehensive suite which includes analysis of TOF as well as direct analysis of PFOS and PFOA (by ALS method EP231); and a basic suite which includes TOF analysis with stoichiometric conversion of the TOF concentration to PFOS and PFOA. Refer to example reports below. In order for the appropriate parameters to be reported, the chain-of-custody (COC) must state that sample analysis is for compliance against the ERA 60 guideline. If a particular package is not requested, the comprehensive suite will be provided as default.

ALS Enviromail™ #125 – ALS now provides testing capabilities for Total Organic Fluorine (TOF)

Environmental Protection (Waste ERA Framework) Queensland. ERA 60 - Waste Disposal Guideline.

For soils used as cover material, the guideline includes separate limits for Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), with the TFOC limit excluding contribution from PFOS and PFOA. Targeted analysis of PFOS and PFOA (by ALS method EP231) would typically be required to meet these criteria (see below).

Maximum total contaminant levels in soils as cover material

		MCL (mg/kg)		ALS LOR (mg/kg)
Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS)		6		0.0002
Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA)		16		0.0002

There is however opportunity to use the TOF result alone as a screening measure for the soil limits without the need to specifically analyse for PFOS and PFOA. This approach takes the conservative
assumption that all of the organic fluorine measured is present as either PFOS or PFOA. As PFOS has the lower guideline limit, this would form the determining factor in this screening approach. A
TOF concentration greater than 3.88 mg/kg would be required to produce an equivalent PFOS concentration above the 6mg/kg limit. See examples provided below. This screening approach provides
an economical option, where direct analysis of PFOS and PFOA may not be required.

Table 1: ERA 60 Waste Disposal – TOF as screen for PFOS & PFOA examples

Analyte		Units		ERA 60 Limit		Sample 1		Sample 2		Sample 3
TOF		mg/kg		10		2.0		4.1		12.4
TOF as PFOS		mg/kg		6		3.1		6.3		19.2
TOF as PFOA		mg/kg		16		2.9		6.0		18.0

 

- Direct PFOS and PFOA analysis may be warranted for Samples 2 and 3 to confirm whether PFOS/PFOA are actually present at concentrations that exceed the limits.
- Measurement Uncertainty (MU) should always be considered when comparing data against guideline limits.

ALS METHOD CODE

EP040

SAMPLING CONTAINERS

Water/AFFF Product
60mL HDPE plastic bottle (Unpreserved), grey label

Soil/Sediment
200mL HDPE plastic specimen jar (Unpreserved), grey label

Note – for soils/sediments, the same specimen jar can be used for both PFAS and TOF analysis. A separate 60mL bottle is required for waters if also testing for PFAS.

HOLDING TIME

28 days

NATA ACCREDITATION

Pending