Biodegradability of fluorinated fire-fighting foams in water

- Three fluorinated fire-fighting foams met the 28-day “ready biodegradability” criteria.
- Fluoride released during biodegradation was 1-2 orders of magnitude lower than estimated.
- Chemical oxygen demand (COD) did not accurately quantify fluorinated organics.
- Perfluorinated organics from foams were found to have high resistance to oxidation.

Fluorinated fire-fighting foams may be released into the environment during fire-fighting activities, raising concerns due to the potential environmental and health impacts for some fluorinated organics. The current study investigated (1) the biodegradability of three fluorinated fire-fighting foams, and (2) the applicability of current standard measures used to assess biodegradability of fluorinated fire-fighting foams.The biodegradability of three fluorinated fire-fighting foams was evaluated using a 28-day dissolved organic carbon (DOC) Die-Away Test. It was found that all three materials, diluted in water, achieved 77-96% biodegradability, meeting the criteria for “ready biodegradability”. Defluorination of the fluorinated organics in the foam during biodegradation was measured using ion chromatography. It was found that the fluorine liberated was 1-2 orders of magnitude less than the estimated initial amount, indicating incomplete degradation of fluorinated organics, and incomplete CF bond breakage.Published biodegradability data may utilize biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and total organic carbon (TOC) metrics to quantify organics. COD and TOC of four fluorinated compounds were measured and compared to the calculated carbon content or theoretical oxygen demand. It was found that the standard dichromate-based COD test did not provide an accurate measure of fluorinated organic content. Thus published biodegradability data using COD for fluorinated organics quantification must be critically evaluated for validity. The TOC measurements correlated to an average of 91% of carbon content for the four fluorinated test substances, and TOC is recommended for use as an analytical parameter in fluorinated organics biodegradability tests.