prEN 17681-1 rev

Textiles and textile products - Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) - Part 1: Analysis of alkaline/methanol and methanol extracts using liquid and gas chromatography prEN 17681-1 rev

Scope

This document specifies test methods for identification and quantification of certain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) listed in Table 1 in textile fibres, textile fabrics and coated fabrics.
It specifies a test method for PFAS listed in Table 1 with a tick in column “Liquid chromatography”, including the degradation of certain side-chain fluorinated polymers (SCFP) during the extraction with simultaneous alkaline hydrolysis, and using a liquid chromatograph with triple-quad mass spectrometer (LC-MS/MS).
It further specifies a test method for PFAS listed in Table 1 with a tick in column “Gas chromatography”, which are not stable to alkaline hydrolysis and cannot be analysed by extraction with simultaneous alkaline hydrolysis, using methanol extraction and a gas chromatograph with mass selective detector (GC-MSD).
Additionally, it specifies a test method to verify whether perfluoro carboxylic acids (PFCA) are present as free PFCA or released from PFCA related substances by alkaline hydrolysis. This document is also applicable to the determination of further PFAS, provided that the methods are validated with the additional substances.
The test methods specified in this document cannot determine polymeric PFAS as such. The test method applying extraction with alkaline hydrolysis causes certain SCFP but also certain non-polymeric PFAS to release n:2 FTOHs (n = 4, 6, 8, 10, 12) without the ability to identify the origin of the n:2 FTOH detected. n:2 FTOH determinations are not conclusive regarding the identity, presence and degradation of SCFP and non-polymeric PFAS.